Hungarian Alliance: Focus on Higher Participation Ahead of EP Elections + Videos

In Slovakia's presidential election on Saturday, Ivan Korcok came first with 42.44 percent of the vote, followed by Peter Pellegrini with 37.07 percent. Stefan Harabin gained the third most votes at 11.74 percent while Krisztian Forro came fourth, securing 2.91 percent. In his assessment, the leader of the Hungarian Alliance in Slovakia, pointed to the need to increase voter turnout in districts with ethnic Hungarian populace to achieve expected results.

Krisztian Forro, leader of the Hungarian Alliance in Slovakia and the party's presidential candidate (Photo: Zoltan Havran)

With 99.86 percent of votes counted in the Slovak presidential election, former Foreign Minister Ivan Korcok came first with 42.44 percent, followed by Peter Pellegrini, the speaker of the parliament and president of Hlas-SD (Voice), the second largest party in the ruling coalition, securing 37.07 percent, and former Supreme Court chief Stefan Harabin gaining the third most votes at 11.74 percent. Krisztian Forro, leader of the Hungarian Alliance, a party that represents the Hungarian minority in Slovakia, received 2.91 percent of the votes. 

During the night, the politicians of the Hungarian Alliance assessed the outcome of the presidential election. Krisztian Forro pointed out that due to polarization and mobilization not reaching the planned level in some districts, the expected result was not achieved, but they should learn from this.   

The result is not what I wanted. I got the best results in Komarno (Komarom) and Dunajska Streda (Dunaszerdahely) districts, showing that we have the largest base in these two districts. However, we must also keep in mind that our base in Dunajska Streda district could be wider, and this potential needs to be better exploited in the coming period. Now we will concentrate all our efforts on ensuring that the party achieves the best possible result in the European Parliament elections, and our goal is to improve on the result of five years ago, which means regaining representation in the European Parliament,

Krisztian Forro summarized the party's plans for the coming months.

Speaking about the strength of the ethnic Hungarian community in Slovakia, the politician said that the current outcome shows that the focus should be placed on mobilizing voters. He explained that the next task is to evaluate the results broken down by settlements, and identify the places where there are still potentials for the party to draw on before the EP elections in June. He highlighted that the Hungarian community managed to show itself and present the issues important for ethnic Hungarians. Krisztian Forro said that although he finished in the fourth spot, it is a result that indicates the need for the representation of Hungarians in Slovakia in the future.

In his assessment, Jozsef Berenyi, board member of the Hungarian Alliance and the leader of the party's list in the European Parliament elections, said that the numbers in the poll were below what they would have liked to see, but he stressed that the fourth place thus obtained was not a bad result. 

Slovak society is rather divided, and this seems to apply to the Hungarian community too. In many districts voters did not realize that this vote is not about Krisztian Forro winning, but about our issues, the existence of our community, being reflected in public life. Since we are not in parliament, it is not easy for us to get media coverage, and this was an opportunity for us to get into Slovak media and to present our issues,

the Hungarian minority politician pointed out.

Regarding which candidate the Hungarian Alliance will support in the runoff, he said that they should weigh it very carefully, as there is very little difference between the two presidential hopefuls. According to Jozsef Berenyi, the EP elections will be a completely different ballot, and the party has a chance to win a seat. "It is possible to win, if I may say so, and in this respect I think mobilization will be different," he added. 

I think that we have managed to put together a very good program for the European Parliament elections, which addresses the huge challenges we are facing. We're going through very difficult times, because there has never been an election when war has been so close to us. Perhaps there was a similar situation in the 1990s, when Yugoslavia disintegrated, but now the negative effects are more painful, because of the economic consequences. The Yugoslav war did not have the same serious economic impacts as the Russia-Ukraine war, so the situation is indeed not good,

Berenyi said. 

"A few days ago we saw this terrible terrorist attack in Moscow. The value of human life is much lower today than it was in the past. People are frightened, of course, and they expect responses to such issues, as well as they want to see how, through our presence in the European Parliament, we can work for the feeling of security to return to Central-Eastern Europe or Europe in general," concluded the Hungarian Alliance's EP list leader.

Cover photo: Krisztian Forro, leader of the Hungarian Alliance in Slovakia and the party's presidential candidate (Photo: Zoltan Havran)