Hungarian elections take swing to right

The far-right party Jobbik won 26 seats in Hungarian parliamentary elections April 11, to the dismay of Hungarian and European Jewish leaders.

The winner was the conservative Fidesz Party and its ally the Christian People’s Party, which together took 206 seats in the 386-seat Parliament. Fidesz has until June to form a government.

The ruling Socialists suffered a humiliating defeat, with only 28 seats left in Parliament. Jobbik’s success shows that “acceptable” anti-Semitism, xenophobia and racism are still alive and well in parts of Europe, a statement issued by the European Jewish Congress said.

Moshe Kantor, president of the EJC, called the results a blow for tolerance in Europe. “This is an example of the political fragility of certain societies in Europe,” Kantor said. “As a result of the economic crisis, certain extreme parties are able to deliver a scapegoat upon which to blame all their ills.

“This growing popularity of racist, xenophobic and anti-Semitic parties in Europe poses a grave danger to the fabric of Europe and could drag us back to the dark days of the past. We must act now,” Kantor said. — jta