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C O N F I D E N T I A L BUDAPEST 000086 
 
SIPDIS 
 
DEPARTMENT FOR EUR/CE JAMIE LAMORE, INR 
 
E.O. 12958: DECL: 01/29/2019 
TAGS: PGOV PINR PHUM PREL SOCI HU
SUBJECT: GABOR VONA AND THE MAKING OF A HUNGARIAN POLITICAL 
PARTY 
 
REF: A. 2008 BUDAPEST 1209 
     ¶B. BUDAPEST 00015 
     ¶C. BUDAPEST 00049 
 
Classified By: P/E Counselor Eric Gaudiosi, reasons 1.4 (b and d) 
 
¶1. (U)  Summary.  Jobbik party President Gabor Vona has 
emerged from obscurity to pursue his ambition to be a prime 
actor with a leading role on the stage of Hungarian politics. 
 Gravitating from Fidesz, Vona took over leadership of the 
extreme-right Jobbik party in 2006.  Using the Jobbik-created 
Magyar Garda to "call attention to the serious social 
problems in Hungary," a  media-savvy Vona continues to 
attract support for Jobbik, in particular among voters in the 
more rural regions of Hungary.  Focused on the upcoming 
European Parliamentary elections and the 2010 national 
elections, Vona predicts his anti-Roma, anti-EU, anti-U.S., 
anti-government, and anti-Semitic Jobbik party will cross the 
required threshold to earn seats in Strasbourg and in 
Budapest.  As the economy remains at risk and social tensions 
are on the rise, recent bi-election results in a Budapest 
district and the popularity of Jobbik's European 
Parliamentary candidate may confirm Vona's confidence.  End 
summary. 
 
------------------------- 
COUNTRY-BORN CONSERVATIVE 
------------------------- 
 
¶2. (U)  Born on August 20, 1978, - ironically, Hungary's 
National Day - 30-year-old Gabor Vona grew up in rural 
Hungary, historically a more conservative, inward-looking 
region.  He attended the Eotvos Lorand University (ELTE) in 
Budapest, earning a degree in a History Department widely 
considered to be extremely conservative in its outlook. 
Former MDF MP Kornel Almassy, who studied with Vona at ELTE 
(and is one of the few alumni we've met who will admit to 
knowing him even slightly), confided to us that "I'm a 
conservative, but Vona was off the charts."  Initially drawn 
into the realm of politics in 2002 as a participant in the 
"Alliance for the Nation Civic Circle" established by former 
Prime Minister Viktor Orban (and sometimes referred to by 
MSzP officials as the "Devil's Circle"), Vona gradually 
drifted away from Orban's Fidesz party towards the extremist 
Jobbik party in 2004.  Vona became Jobbik's President in 2006 
and has been working since then to consolidate his grip. 
Think tank Political Capital observers tell us that Jobbik 
provoked a battle last fall with far-right rivals - the 
Hungarian Defense Movement, internet extremist "Tomcat" and 
others - successfully becoming the single group that 
dominates the fringe of the political scene.  With support 
from the right-wing websites Kuruc.info and Barrikad.hu, 
Political Capital believes that Jobbik is building a winning 
"media empire" strategy. 
 
--------------- 
ANTI-EVERYTHING 
--------------- 
 
¶3. (U)  Although deemed uncharismatic and a 
less-than-inspiring public speaker by many with whom we've 
spoken, Vona is deemed a very good organizer.  Kornelia 
Magyar of the Progresziv Institute comments that "Vona is not 
an idiot - but he knows how to appeal to them."  Other 
analysts see Vona "on the right track to pursue his objective 
to become a professional politician."  Anti-Roma, anti-EU, 
anti-U.S., anti-government, and anti-Semitic, Vona's 
political agenda is to use "traditional values" to build a 
"different Hungary" that is outside the European Union and 
opposed to international capital.  In addition to railing 
against the sale of Hungarian land to foreign investors, he 
and Jobbik are strong critics of the recent IMF, EU, and 
World Bank financial support package to help address 
Hungary's current financial problems. 
 
¶4. (U)  And thus Vona's dilemma - how to effectively pursue 
his political agenda within the very institutions he opposes. 
 For now, willing to engage in the political game, Vona has 
reached out to fellow extremist parties in Europe, inviting, 
for example, British Nationalist Party Chairman Nick Griffin 
to Jobbik's October 23, 2008 rally commemorating Hungary's 
1956 revolution.  Vona's recent trip to Moscow - where, 
 
according to him, an eye infection kept him from planned 
meetings with Russian politicians - received full-page 
coverage in a conservative Hungarian daily, highlighting 
Vona's lecture in Moscow on the changing Russian-European 
relationship.  In the interview Vona stated "that Europe has 
no future without Russia...and if Jobbik has a role in 
Hungarian foreign affairs we will initiate a dramatic reform 
of bi-lateral relations with Russia...Russia could be 
Hungary's strategic partner, and we are obliged to maintain 
good relations for geopolitical and economic interests." 
 
------------------------------------- 
EP ELECTIONS - ENTER KRISZTINA MORVAI 
------------------------------------- 
 
¶5. (U)  Traditionally anti-EU, Jobbik did not participate in 
the last European Parliamentary (EP) elections.  Indeed, it 
criticized the Hungarian Justice and Life Party (MIEP) for 
doing so.  However, this year Vona and Jobbik look to recent 
by-elections in Budapest's 9th district as a positive 
indicator of Jobbik's chances in this spring's EP elections. 
In the bi-election in a normally left-leaning district, the 
local Jobbik candidate garnered approximately eight percent 
of the votes cast - albeit only slightly over 600 - placing 
him third in the voting.  After the election Vona commented, 
"we've become the third force in Hungary, beating one of our 
main enemies, the Liberal Democrats (SzDSz)."  Vona believes 
that the district elections gives them an important boost 
leading into the EP elections, arguing that votes for Jobbik 
will "not be wasted" and Jobbik will place third, enough to 
send at least one representative to the European Parliament. 
(ref C) 
 
¶6. (U)  Targeting EP success, Vona and Jobbik have thrown 
their support behind the even-more-popular Krisztina Morvai 
as their number one candidate.  A criminal lawyer by 
profession, and a former member of the United Nations' 
Women's Committee, Morvai has been in the public eye since 
the violent demonstrations of 2006.  Deemed "too radical" by 
the Civil Lawyer's Committee she founded, Morvai joined, and 
has become a leading figure in Jobbik.  An emblematic figure 
of anti-government sentiment, Morvai recently led a Jobbik 
group to the Palestinian Authority's Budapest office to 
present a petition of support, followed by a sharp, 
anti-Semitic letter to Israel's Hungarian Ambassador 
criticizing Israel for "teaching hatred to the world." 
 
-------------------------------- 
VONA, THE ROMA, THE MAGYAR GARDA 
-------------------------------- 
 
¶7. (U)  But Vona's primary focus remains domestic.  Making 
the term "gypsy crime" almost an everyday utterance, Jobbik 
has a complex "program" to deal with the "issue" - with 
particular focus on improving public security.  Announcing 
the creation of the Magyar Garda (MG) on March 15, 2006, 
Vona's original concept was to create a youth organization, 
but the MG quickly evolved into a para-military organization. 
 Following the initial swearing-in ceremony for 50 members on 
August 20, 2007, the organization now claims almost 2,000 
members. 
 
¶8. (U)  In response to the recent court decision - now under 
appeal - declaring the MG illegal (ref A), Vona noted 
publicly that "despite the harsh media and political attacks, 
Hungarians join the MG because they feel this is their duty, 
as they love their nation."  While Vona and other Jobbik 
leaders have yet to appear - perhaps intentionally - at the 
various MG marches through Hungarian villages to protest 
"gypsy crime," Magyar Garda's chapters in 16 of the 19 
Hungarian counties provides an instrument, in Vona's words, 
to "call attention to the serious social problems in 
Hungary." (ref B) While the MG gives Vona the needed media 
attention, several of the Garda's original officers have 
resigned in protest of Vona's "political agenda."  Although 
the movement has survived, the MG's increasing popularity 
creates a challenge for Vona's comparatively weak public 
persona. 
 
¶9. (C)  Comment.  With apparently limited financial 
resources, Vona and Jobbik face significant challenges in 
launching a broad media campaign for the upcoming elections. 
 
Recognizing that their primary support is in the countryside, 
their approach emphasizes outreach programs all around 
Hungary - with a Vona-Morvai tour as a key element.  With 
Viktor Orban and Fidesz focusing on the political center, 
Vona will likely emphasize nationalist/populist themes to 
further distance himself from Orban, highlighting Fidesz' 
pro-Israeli position as well as their negative response to 
Russia's incursion into Georgia and recent gas shutoff. 
Banking on their showing in the Budapest by-elections - where 
Jobbik's post-election billboards read "only the start" - 
Vona confidently sees an opposition role following the 2010 
elections, saying "I am convinced that if Jobbik makes it to 
the Parliament after the next election, it will win the 
following (2014) elections."  Although observers, including 
former FM Janos Martonyi, minimize Vona's chances - and often 
argue that they have benefited primarily from the Gyurcsany 
government's efforts to cast them as a threat to democracy - 
the Progresziv Institute's Kornelia Magyar notes that "more 
voters identify with Jobbik than with the Free Democrats." 
While we will maintain our long-standing policy of no contact 
with Jobbik, we will be watching closely as the European 
Parliamentary campaign further unfolds this spring. 
Foley