VZCZCXYZ0021
RR RUEHWEB

DE RUEHUP #0753/01 1011509
ZNR UUUUU ZZH
R 111509Z APR 06
FM AMEMBASSY BUDAPEST
TO RUEHC/SECSTATE WASHDC 8989
INFO RUCNMEM/EU MEMBER STATES

UNCLAS BUDAPEST 000753 
 
SIPDIS 
 
SENSITIVE 
SIPDIS 
 
DEPARTMENT FOR EUR/NCE 
 
E.O. 12958: N/A 
TAGS: KDEM PGOV PHUM SOCI HU
SUBJECT: HUNGARY'S ELECTIONS: SNAPSHOT OF MDF'S UNEXPECTED 
FIRST-ROUND ELECTORAL SUCCESS (C-RE6-00145) 
 
REF: A. STATE 22644 
     ¶B. BUDAPEST 722 
     ¶C. BUDAPEST 733 
 
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Summary 
------- 
 
¶1.  (U) Junior opposition party MDF's capture of 5.04 percent 
of the county list vote in the April 9 first round of the 
election, surprised pundits, pollsters and even MDF insiders. 
With one week remaining before Hungary's elections, three 
public opinion research companies here predicted that MDF 
would not reach the 5 percent mark required to enter 
Parliament. Observers suggested that MDF may have been the 
last-minute beneficiary of the April 6 four-way debate and a 
right-wing protest vote against FIDESZ. Although MDF has 
finished third in forty-seven of the remaining 110 individual 
districts and is in a position to help or hurt FIDESZ in the 
second round, MDF President Ibolya David has categorically 
ruled out any possibility of a coalition or coordination with 
FIDESZ. 
 
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The Reason Why 
-------------- 
 
¶2.  (SBU) MDF's popularity ratings increased noticeably in 
the final week of the campaign.  (Note:  Prior to the April 5 
and 6 inter-party debates all major Hungarian polls showed 
MDF hovering between 2 and 4 percent.) Observers have 
suggested various reasons for the party's eleventh-hour 
recovery: 
 
-- MDF President Ibolya David's strong showing in the 
four-party debate on April 6. Observers contend that many 
Hungarians of all political stripes viewed David's 
performance favorably. The public opinion research company 
Szonda Ipsos showed that MDF went from 3.1 percent before the 
debate to 4 percent immediately afterward. Other pollsters 
agreed.  Gallup claimed that if the elections had occurred 
one week earlier, MDF would not have won the five percent 
necessary to be represented in Parliament. Regardless, 
pollsters said that the difference between their predictions 
and the final percentage was a matter of 2500 votes, which is 
well within the margin of error in a voting pool of 8.1 
million; 
 
--David's personal popularity. (Note: David consistently 
polls as the most popular politician in Hungary, despite the 
fact that she finished a dismal third in the first round 
contest in her own district and will likely be forced to 
enter Parliament via MDF's party list.); 
 
--A last minute spending and campaign blitz.  MDF leaders 
told poloffs that because of their lack of financial 
resources, the party would only start intensive advertising 
on the eve of the elections. In recent weeks the country has 
been inundated with posters that have pictures of pacifiers, 
and Christmas trees, with the message that Hungarian voters 
are not children to be bought with extravagant promises; 
 
--FIDESZ's overt desire to destroy or absorb MDF likely 
motivated conservative voters to turn out in larger numbers 
in order to preserve a bona-fide conservative party; 
 
-- Favorable state-run media coverage. (Note: In an on-air 
interview after the elections, David thanked the GOH 
administered MTV for its coverage, causing speculation that 
the government-run media had spotlighted MDF in order to 
undercut FIDESZ.  There have also been rumors that MSZP 
contributed support to MDF in attempts to accomplish this as 
well.); 
 
 
--MDF's ability to stay on message.  David has consistently 
hammered away at the issue of corruption, fiscal prudence and 
on MDF as the "adult choice" or alternative for right-wing 
voters disillusioned with the FIDESZ's populism and negative 
campaign. 
 
------------- 
MDF's Support 
------------- 
 
¶3.  (SBU) MDF seems to have benefited from its identification 
as the sole conservative party.  On the county lists, MDF's 
support ranged from 3.83 percent in Borsod-Abauj-Zemplen 
County to 5.96 percent in Tolna County. Generally, MDF did 
 
well in traditionally conservative counties, largely in 
western Hungary. FIDESZ dominated these counties, but the 
turnout for MDF indicates that many of the local 
conservatives did not view FIDESZ as the best "right wing" 
party.  FIDESZ also won the most county votes in eight of the 
eleven counties where MDF exceeded its national average of 
5.04 percent, further lending credence to the possibility 
that the MDF surge was due to conservatives' desire to send a 
message to FIDESZ, and/or vote for a "true" right-of-center 
party. 
 
¶4.  (SBU) MDF also performed well in two regions where FIDESZ 
did not: Budapest (which gave MDF approximately 54 thousand 
votes, almost one-fifth of its total) and Baranya County 
(home to the city of Pecs).  Those results seem to support 
the idea that much of MDF's strength comes from urban 
conservatives. Orban himself attributed part of FIDESZ's poor 
showing to the fact that city voter's turned out in greater 
numbers than rural voters.  It so, that would have boosted 
MDF. 
 
---------------- 
Written in Stone 
---------------- 
 
¶5.  (U)  To have any chance of winning the election, FIDESZ 
must win 75 of the remaining 110 individual mandates in round 
two. In 34 of these districts, if added to already existing 
FIDESZ votes, MDF or MDF/MIEP-Jobbik votes could 
theoretically give FIDESZ enough support to win. Orban is 
aware of this, and had appealed for MDF cooperation in 
"ousting the communist regime and governing the country." To 
date, his appeals have fallen on deaf ears. David told 
reporters April 10 that MDF would not withdraw candidates in 
deference to FIDESZ, and that her party would not "cheat 
voters" who did not vote for FIDESZ or MSZP. At MDF 
headquarters, she said, the party had erected a stone wall in 
which the "message was carved" that they would not help Orban 
or Prime Minister Gyurscany. In response to a FIDESZ request 
for cooperation, MDF's board voted April 10 for no candidate 
withdrawals. (Backtracking on such public commitments would 
be very difficult at this juncture MDF.)  In addition, the 
above-mentioned FIDESZ attempts to crush MDF have further 
dampened any desire of MDF supporters to work with FIDESZ.  A 
Median poll shows that over half of MDF voters would not vote 
for FIDESZ, even if FIDESZ and MSZP were the only two choices 
on the ballot. 
 
¶6.  (U) Visit Embassy Budapest's classified website: 
www.state.sgov.gov/p/eur/budapest/index.cfm 
WALKER