MercoPress. South Atlantic News Agency
Re-elected thorn for the European Union: landslide victory for Hungary's Orban
Hungary's all-powerful premier Viktor Orban, his party victorious in elections Sunday, is the self-styled defender of Christian Europe against the “poison” of immigration, an admirer of “illiberal democracy” and a thorn in the European Union's side. Read full article
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Disclaimer & comment rulesThere's a simple logic to this. Who has the best right to determine how a country is governed and what policies it should have? Isn't it the people that live there? And, more than that, the people that constitute “the nation”. It appears that Mr Orban's party has 49% of the vote. Unless some party steps forward with 50-51% of the vote, it would appear that Mr Orban's party has the approval of the largest part of the Hungarian electorate. That's all that we outsiders need to know.
Apr 09th, 2018 - 10:42 am - Link - Report abuse 0'Illiberal democracy' = tyranny of the majority
Apr 09th, 2018 - 03:13 pm - Link - Report abuse 0If illiberalism is what the majority want surely that isnt wrong?
Apr 10th, 2018 - 11:47 am - Link - Report abuse 0Its a bit like Brexit..
Big busines doesnt like it, but big business is only interested in its profits, not consumers costs.
The touchy feely liberal elite dont like it because their wages havent been adversly affected like the skilled and unskilled working man's wages have.
If murdering the Jews is what the majority want surely that isn't wrong?
Apr 10th, 2018 - 01:36 pm - Link - Report abuse 0Knowing many Germans personally I dont think the majority ever wanted that. It wasnt just the Jews either. Nazi Germany was not democracy but a dictatorship enforced by paramilitary forces, the SA and the Gestapo completely outside the rule of existing laws.
Apr 10th, 2018 - 09:52 pm - Link - Report abuse 0Perhaps so, but the point is that the majority wanting something does not make it right. Maybe they wouldn't actually send you to the gas chamber, but banning your religion, putting you in jail because of your political beliefs, declaring your marriage invalid, or stripping you of your citizenship because they don't like your face are all pretty plausible. Banning the press from talking about it even more so.
Apr 10th, 2018 - 10:35 pm - Link - Report abuse 0That's illiberal democracy.
What is right? What the majority in an election decide is right for the majority, thats also Democracy, a thing many dont seem to understand. Some religions deem things right we wouldnt countenence, but its right for those religions. Thats where the fault lies with the term illiberal democracy. We deemed the Nazi regime wrong but Nazi philosophy seemed right under the chaos of Germany in the 1930s. The Allies won and the Western Allies morals eventually prevailed, but it was mostly Stalins forces that beat the Nazis and drained their resources enabling us to successfuly attack from the West. We would say Stalins morals were wrong too.
Apr 11th, 2018 - 10:09 pm - Link - Report abuse 0“What is right?”
Apr 12th, 2018 - 08:51 am - Link - Report abuse 0You tell me. Was the Nazi party right or wrong? Is slaughtering 6 million people right or wrong? Even for the majority, their rule turned out to be a disaster in the end.
By the way, the Nazis got 37.3% of the vote in the 1932 German Federal election, more than any other party. For comparison the Tories got 36.9% in 2015, and went on to form the government. The Nazis actually got less votes in the next election but were still the largest party, and Hindenburg was eventually forced to appoint Hitler Chancellor.
I'm all for democracy, but I think there should be some things a government can't do when they only got 36.9% of the vote, or even 50.1% (and just to be clear, I'm NOT talking about Brexit here.)
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