Hungary Explained: The Momentum party
Momentum is an opposition party in Hungary.
Their story as a party started in 2017 when a small movement of college students organized a campaign for a referendum about Hungary’s bid for the 2024 olympics. They were collecting the required number of signatures strikingly fast and this forced Orbán to withdraw the bid. (People thought Orbán and his cronies would steal an astronomical amount of money from the bid which was bound to be unsuccessful against Paris’ bid.)
The movement went on to become a party. They didn’t make it to the Parliament in 2018 but won two seats in the EU Parliament in 2019 and won a couple of municipal elections. In 2022 they won seats in the Hungarian parliament.
After some initial success the party’s development stalled and they never quite crossed the 10% threshold. The reason is that they have trouble finding their political identity. The leaders of the party have their background in Budapest intelligentsia so they tend to be liberal. Liberal parties are doomed to be Budapest parties in Hungary because most of the electorate is conservative. (Imagine Iowa but replace Des Moines with Brooklyn).
They have some management issues and lots of infighting. The once very promising party is now just another liberal dwarf party in Budapest.
Don’t get something about Hungary? Email us and we will explain it!
Many of their supporters (even some former members) turn to the MKKP (the Hungarian Two-tailed Dog Party) because of the perceived lack of competence from Momentum. It's a pity, but you should sort yourself out before you try to make any kind of political offers.
Lack of competence and hypocrisy.