As he said the pain and disappointment over the election result is shared, "but so is our future. We cannot give up, we have to fight for what we believe in, because that is what gives meaning to our lives, that is what will lay the foundations for the future of our children and grandchildren."
In his assessment, the election battle against the publicly funded propaganda machine and the Fidesz economic backdrop built up over 12 years was not fought on a level playing field, and the united opposition, "and especially the Hungarian Socialist Party", "no matter how hard we worked, we could not compete with the resources available to the governing party".
The Russian-Ukrainian war, the government's pre-election hand-outs, and thus the country's indebtedness, and "the internal differences that emerged from the six-party cooperation" did not lead voters to change the government, and the close cooperation between DK and Jobbik " led Jobbik voters to vote for Our Homeland, Fidesz and other parties, or to stay away from the election", he said.
"This year, the united opposition lost essentially as many votes nationally as the number of those who voted for Jobbik in 2018," he pointed out.
He stressed that the vast majority of Socialist MPs who won individual seats in 2018 and now ran as joint candidates have retained the voters' trust, and Zoltán Vajda's victory is seen as "a serious possibility", as thousands of votes in his constituency are yet to be counted.
He said that the MSZP-Dialogue alliance had put forward a joint candidate in 24 constituencies, of which they had won 8. DK won seats in 4 of the 32 opposition primary election victories; LMP won seats in 1 of its 5 primary election victories; Momentum won seats in 5 of its 15 primary election victories; and Jobbik failed to win seats in any of its 29 primary election victories.
"Now the time of evaluation, sorting out our things and planning is upon us," he said, looking to the future.
As he said, they will start a country tour, assessing the election period in a narrower and broader circle, and plan the future "together with you". He also announced that the MSZP board has called for an enlarged caucus meeting on 23 April.
He stated that they would consistently represent the new social-democratic policies built by MSZP in recent years.
He added that he considers it important to strengthen the MSZP-Dialogue alliance, which, with 15-16 MPs, will be the strongest opposition parliamentary force.
"The work we have done has not been in vain. Our joint efforts can provide the basis for a new politics that will lead the majority of Hungarians to the realisation that only a force that speaks clearly and is built on left-wing foundations can replace Fidesz. We believe that this force is MSZP," the Socialist co-president concluded.
