The radical nationalist Jobbik party’s newly elected mayor in Gyongyospata (N) has been given an opportunity to manage local issues without his party’s “extremist solutions”, the deputy head of the ruling Fidesz told MTI in a statement on Tuesday.
In his statement, Gergely Gulyas assured the new mayor, Oszkar Juhasz, of “unconditional” assistance from Fidesz’s MP for the region, once Juhasz leaves behind Jobbik’s policies which he suggested were motivated by anti-Roma and anti-Jewish sentiments.
Earlier in the day, Jobbik called for the resignation of Fidesz MP Jozsef Balazs saying that the MP had made coercive remarks to the mayor.
According to a recorded telephone call presented at a press conference in Budapest, Balazs told Juhasz that his village would receive no funding under his administration, Jobbik spokesman Adam Mirkoczki said.
“Towns will receive funds upon my approval. If I do not consent, funds will not be granted,” said the recording played at the press conference.
Juhasz, who won his position in an interim election in Gyongyospata on Sunday, has been receiving threatening signals from Fidesz circles since March, the spokesman said. In a statement sent to MTI, the green opposition LMP party shared Jobbik’s position that Balazs should return his mandate.
Talking to MTI, Balazs firmly rejected the allegations of coercion.
Gyongyospata came into the focus of public attention in March, when activists of a radical paramilitary organisation staged patrols for weeks in protest against what they saw as a rising crime rate.
The situation turned critical when Vedero, a similar group, organised a training camp near the village’s Roma neighbourhood late in April. The police dissolved the camp following a government decree that imposes stricter punishments to uniformed people who organise unauthorised patrols. Soon after, Juhasz’s predecessor tendered his resignation.
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