Magyar Kétfarkú Kutya Párt
| Magyar Kétfarkú Kutya Párt Hungarian party of the two-tailed dog |
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| Party leader | Gergely Kovács |
| founding | 2014 |
| Place of foundation | Szeged |
| Headquarters | Budapest |
| Alignment | Satire , absurdism |
| Website | http://mkkp.hu/ |
The Magyar Kétfarkú Kutya Párt (MKKP, German Hungarian Party of the Two-Tailed Dog ) is a (fun) party in Hungary that has been registered since 2014 . Before registering, it acted as an association. Its aim is to parody Hungarian political life in order to draw attention to the grievances and the corrupt, money-driven functioning of the other parties.
The MKKP makes intensive use of the creative means of street art .
Ideological background, mission and goals
According to Gergely Kovács, the party's goal is to make the election campaign more enjoyable for voters and annoying for politicians. The party's aim is still to parody the parties that have been active since the regime change, to show their true colors, to occlude their corrupt activities and to offer an alternative for the disaffected voters.
history
2006 elections
The "party" was founded in 2006 in Szeged . Almost all of their candidates were two-tailed dogs drawn by István Nagy.
The MKKP campaigned in the 2006 general election as a non-registered party. In her program she promised eternal life, free beer and tax cuts, among other things. It was also promised that a mountain would be built in Szeged. Your opponents are the party of the one-tailed dog and the party of the nine-tailed cat. Most of the election posters could be seen in Szeged. Most of them showed the two-tailed dog drawn by István Nagy, with the inscription: “He's so cute, he definitely doesn't want to steal”.
In her opinion, the 2006 election was won by the MKKP in Szeged with the funniest posters, boards and stickers with which they flooded the city.
Demonstration in front of the Central Statistical Office
The party held a "general" demonstration in front of the Central Statistical Office on June 20, 2009. The 200-300 demonstrators demanded: “Tomorrow should be yesterday”, “Look stupid”, “I should be dissolved” etc. The main organizer, Gergely Kovács, gave the following seminal speech with a whisper bag: “We demand that immediately, both in general as well as individually, without individual examination, for everyone equally, according to their abilities, without political affiliation, regardless of religion or clothing brand, in individual groups, following the recommendations of the EU, shoulder to shoulder with the Hungarians vegetating abroad , the sooner!"
Creation of the first election platform in 2010
In 2010 the first program with the title “Everything should get better” came about. The program focused on three promises: Eternal Life, Free Beer, and Tax Reduction. The detailed economic part of the program included a. the further development of the Szeged space station into an intergalactic space port, the introduction of the Puliexport . In the field of environmental protection, the party has promised to plug the ozone hole or to create new races in place of the extinct ones. The plan also envisaged the construction of a mountain for Szeged and the lowering of gravity . The foreign policy focused on aliens ; so the party wanted to strengthen trade ties with other life forms in the galaxy . A Hungarian restaurant was to be opened on Mars to improve the country's image.
The program included in particular the development of the city of Szeged.
Participation in the 2010 local elections
Kovács announced in August 2010 that he was running for the post of mayor of Szeged in the October elections. Among other things, he promised a mountain and a space station. In the VII. District of Budapest the party also put a candidate in Daniel Mogács. However, the non-profit cultural association of the two-tailed dog could not collect enough recommendations, which is why the candidates did not get on the electoral list.
First state assembly
The party wanted to be officially registered in 2013 in order to run in the 2014 parliamentary and local elections. In the first and second instance, the court ultimately legally refused the entry on the grounds that the name of the party did not comply with the requirement that the name be uniquely different because it could be “misleading”. From the final decision - the party published it - it can also be inferred that the court relies on the party's dubiousness or that the party's name violates general moral standards because it alludes to an unworthy association. The court also stated that, in its view, the applicant had no serious intent, but was primarily only committed to humor and criticized other parties. However, there are also opinions that the court registered certain other parties when they could have been refused on the same grounds.
The matter went to the Constitutional Court. The founder of the MKKP argued in his constitutional complaint that the decision violated the Basic Law of Hungary . It violates the founders' right to association, especially since the court has largely exercised a substantive control over the name and activities of the association, which it did not have the right to do. He went on to argue that the court failed to legally substantiate the claim that the party's name is misleading or confusing. The court did not take into account that the association and its activities are already largely known and that no doubts about the name have arisen. After the complaint, the court demanded a self-designed term, a “worthy party name”. At the same time, however, it is a violation of equal opportunities, since other parties with unworthy names have nevertheless been registered according to this logic. The complainant stated that it was clear from the court decision that the court was unquestionably opposed to the characteristics of "party of fun" in order to prevent the use of humor and absurd means.
The Supreme Court (Kuria) finally decided at the beginning of the summer that the party could be registered because the first and second instance decisions were incorrect. However, the MKKP was still unable to register. The party was only registered in early September 2014. She received the notification of registration on September 8th in the afternoon, 16 minutes before the end of the deadline for the list of candidates for local elections. The slow work of the court effectively prevented the party from participating in local elections.
Counter campaign 2015
There were three posters from the government: "If you come to Hungary, you must not take away the work of the Hungarians"; “If you come to Hungary, you have to honor the Hungarian culture!”; and “When you come to Hungary, you have to obey our laws!”.
In response, the MKKP started a counter-campaign, together with the blog “Vastagbör” (thick skin).
According to the original plan, 50 funny posters parodying the government or drawing attention to social problems and corruption were to be put up for a month for three million forints , about 9,700 euros. The funds for this should come from donations. However, the popularity of the campaign far exceeded all expectations, the planned sum was received after just seven hours. In a few days a total of more than 33 million forints, around 107,000 euros, were donated by private individuals. MKKP and Vastagbör were able to have a total of 900 large posters produced.
Counter campaign 2016
The party's response to the government's quota referendum was a counter-campaign with the motto: "A stupid answer to a stupid question". Voters were called upon to vote with both yes and no in the referendum and thus to vote invalid. For this purpose, within a few weeks, up to September 1st, more than 28 million forints in donations were collected on the Internet. This sum far exceeds the sum that the left opposition parties had at their disposal. This money was used to print at least 500 large posters and 100,000 A4 flyers and distribute them across the country.
224,668 people, or 6.17 percent of all Hungarians participating in the referendum, voted invalid. Since the MKKP was the only party that expressly called for invalid votes (other opposition parties advised boycotts), this was seen as a respectable success for the satirical party. In Hungary's parliamentary elections, only about one percent of the ballot papers are invalid.
General election 2018
In the parliamentary elections in Hungary in 2018 , the MKKP received 1.73 percent of the party list votes.
European elections 2019
In the 2019 European elections , the MKKP received 2.62 percent of the vote.
reception
The former education minister and SZDSZ politician, Bálint Magyar , and the former Magyar Televízió supervisory board member, Márton Kozák , criticize that further participation by the MKKP could further weaken the “actual” political opposition to Viktor Orbán's autocracy .
Web links
- Official website (Hungarian)
Individual evidence
- ↑ Országgyűlési Képviselők Választása 2018. April. 8 - Tájékoztató adatok az országos listás választás eredményéről. Nemzeti Választási Iroda, April 17, 2018, accessed April 17, 2018 (Hungarian).
- ↑ Results by national party: 2019–2024 | Hungary - Official Results. Retrieved December 12, 2019 .
- ^ Eva S. Balogh: Márton Kozák and Bálint Magyar: “If you don't like the system ...” (Part II). In: Hungarian Spectrum. August 21, 2020, accessed August 22, 2020 (American English).