Anti-Semitic Hungarian Party Garners 20% of National Election Votes
Members of the ultra-nationalist Jobbik party gather for a rally. Image by getty images
The president of the European Jewish Congress said electoral gains in Hungary by Jobbik, a far-right party with a history of anti-Semitism, should be a source of grave concern to Europe.
Jobbik won nearly 21 percent of the votes in Sunday’s parliamentary election, up from nearly 16 percent four years ago.
“This is truly a dark day for Hungary,” said EJC President Dr. Moshe Kantor in a statement issued after the close of polls on Sunday.
“The gains made by Jobbik, an unashamedly neo-Nazi political party, should serve as a wake-up call for the whole of Europe,” Kantor said. “Once again in Europe we are witnessing democracy being appropriated by those are the enemies of democracy.”
The ultranationalist Jobbik remains the third largest political party in Hungary. It pledged to create new jobs, crack down on crime, renegotiate state debt and hold a referendum on European Union membership, according to Reuters.
“This is a party that feeds on hate,” Kantor said. “The new Hungarian government must ensure now that this hate is not tolerated, not by the government, not in parliament and not on the streets of Hungary.”
In November 2012, Jobbik lawmaker Marton Gyongyosi suggested during a parliament session that a census be taken of Jews in the country, and that a list of all Jewish lawmakers should be compiled for national security reasons.
Hungarian voters returned Prime Minister Victor Orban and his Fidesz party to power, with 132 of 199 seats in the parliament.
A message from our CEO & publisher Rachel Fishman Feddersen
I hope you appreciated this article. Before you move on, I wanted to ask you to support the Forward’s award-winning journalism during our High Holiday Monthly Donor Drive.
If you’ve turned to the Forward in the past 12 months to better understand the world around you, we hope you will support us with a gift now. Your support has a direct impact, giving us the resources we need to report from Israel and around the U.S., across college campuses, and wherever there is news of importance to American Jews.
Make a monthly or one-time gift and support Jewish journalism throughout 5785. The first six months of your monthly gift will be matched for twice the investment in independent Jewish journalism.
— Rachel Fishman Feddersen, Publisher and CEO
