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Show 123 anti-Fidesz and Orbán parties, including the primary opposition party, the Socialist MSZP. The other part of LMP did not want to pursue this option and wanted to run again as an individual party. This internal dissent led to a formal party split in 2013 and the creation of Dialogue for Hungary (PM), a rival environmental niche party, composed of those in favor of joining an alliance. When I was interviewing environmental niche parties around Europe and mentioned this split, many felt that PM was proving to be the more mature, pragmatist arm and that by pursuing what Bas Eickhout, a member of the European Parliament for the Dutch GreenLeft, referred to as a "dark green" approach, the LMP would likely suffer the consequences electorally (2014). Timea Szabó, a member of parliament and copresident of PM, echoed this in saying that very little environmental policy was possible without undoing the changes brought about under Orbán. She said, "There will be no green values to represent if the government stays in power. We said both are very important but we have to prioritize. The first priority has to be to change the government" (2014). However, when I discussed this with Dr. Tamás Meszerics of Central European University, he said it was less an issue of "dark green" versus antiFidesz, but that the LMP party had run all the various scenarios and just did not see one where it would gain more seats as part of the coalition. As he explained, "I went through the details of the electoral data and just found that there is nobody who would be able to successfully consolidate both the left and appeal to the center right voters and if that is not the case, then given the new electoral system, there is just no way that they [an electoral alliance] can beat Fidesz on his home ground" (2014). In looking at their party platforms from the MARPOR data, LMP was "dark |
