Tisza Party's Propaganda Leaflet Riddled with False Claims, Unrealistic Promises

Massive promises with zero collateral – the Tisza Party’s eight-page campaign brochure with spectacular photos and high sounding slogans tries to mask that its program is a revamp of failed left-wing recipes, promising everything from pensioners to foreign currency loan holders without concrete funding or feasible plans.

Peter Magyar (Photo: Zoltan Havran)

Astonishing claims were published in a propaganda publication prepared under the name of the Tisza Party’s campaign manager. The eight-page leaflet’s first page naturally features a photo of party leader Peter Magyar posing. At the same time, great care was taken to ensure the photo did not show that Peter Magyar’s speech was rather sparsely attended. Throughout the eight pages, the party leader appears in a total of three images.

Peter Magyar and team launch propaganda publication (Photo: MTI/Zoltan Balogh)

The writing on the first page provided a quick summary of Peter Magyar’s speech delivered in Szekesfehervar.

On the next page, an unstoppable tsunami of promises begins, clearly aimed solely at winning votes. As part of this, the Tisza Party has co-opted the once popular Jobbik’s issue of resolving the problems of foreign currency loan holders. The leaflet promises a monthly compensation of 100 thousand forints to affected borrowers, described as moral compensation. However, it remains unclear what the source of funding would be, exactly how many people would benefit, and for how long.

An equally massive promise in the propaganda publication concerns housing. The party proposes launching a rental housing construction program, where properties could later be rented out at a discount. However, this reveals that in the area of housing, the Tisza Party apparently does not support home ownership, but would rather Hungarians to remain renters, in line with its previous statements.

Another flashy but vague promise is the introduction of a “Szep card” (fringe benefits) for pensioners. According to the leaflet, the Tisza Party would give pensioners an extra benefit of up to 200 thousand forints.

What the leaflet fails to mention is that an expert close to the party and an associate of Peter Magyar spoke at a Tisza event about permanently abolishing the 13th-month pension,

which is a further indication that this new left-wing party and its politicians aim to cut pensioners’ benefits again, copying measures from the Gyurcsany government and shortchanging Hungary’s elderly and those receiving pension-like support.

Maria Zita Petschnig, a program writer for the Tisza Party, recently openly criticized the 13th-month pension. In the recording, she reads a question asking whether it would be better for pensioners to receive an average 13th-month pension instead of the existing one based on their monthly pay. In her response, Petschnig stated that

it would be fairer because the 13th pension can no longer be linked directly to work. So when a low-income pensioner receives an average pension, it is a kind of catch-up support, while high-income pensioners would not receive that insanely high pension which they wouldn’t know what to do with anyway.

The last page of the propaganda leaflet contains a short article discussing asset confiscation and threatening supporters and politicians of the ruling parties. Also on page eight, the leaflet claims, citing unnamed experts, that government real estate transactions involve overpricing. However, the article does not reveal the names of these experts nor concrete proof of overpricing.

It is also worth noting that the authors of the articles in the leaflet apparently felt ashamed to put their names to their work; no piece carries an author’s name.

Cover photo: Peter Magyar (Photo: Zoltan Havran)