Wind Bernadett: In Hungary, the government controls the opposition
Farewell to parliamentary work Wind Bernadett an independent member of parliament said in a long Facebook post to his constituents on Wednesday early afternoon. In an unusually lengthy post, the MP explains in detail how the opportunities for opposition MPs to work – and the wider public – have narrowed over the past ten years. In her post, Bernadett also testifies to a change in the role of MPs and a conscious transformation, and as he writes, the terms and means of his work have changed dramatically over the decade.
When you ask me how I see the political situation at home, how much is left of democracy and what to do, I say: let us ask the fundamental question of who needs to be checked in Hungary at the moment. In a democracy, the opposition controls the government – in Hungary, on the contrary, the government controls the opposition. In every way possible. The world has changed and almost everything we have ever thought about politics under democratic conditions has overthrown it.
– writes the outgoing Member in her assessment of the situation.
Wind draws its own balance sheet and quantifies its activities: according to him, in the last 4 years he has submitted 471 questions and bills to the parliament, and has turned 38 times to the Ombudsman in matters concerning constitutional rights. He filed hundreds of requests for data, filed dozens of complaints, and initiated a multitude of lawsuits in the public interest. In many cases, he turned to the Data Protection Commissioner, to the Media Authority, and to the Constitutional Court. The number of visits to the institution is approaching one hundred.
In the context of the change in the role of his representative, he writes that it was a conscious decision to change his political tools. After it became clear to him that the possibilities of parliamentary opposition politicking had narrowed down, he committed himself to active politicking outside the parliament, which is also the reason for the case revealed by many. However, the MEP sees that the possibilities for politicking outside the parliament are now impossible, one of the reasons being that today, “actors who are meant to limit power serve the power”.
A new era is beginning for me, but Hungary is really. One cannot pretend that one side has been left behind in a democratic election. Thank you so much again and again to everyone I have been able to represent, thank you to many excellent professionals and our compatriots for their invaluable help with my work, all the support, and what I have said – it is always changing, but the fight remains
– the Member of Parliament said goodbye to her constituents.
Bernadett Szél was born in 1977, served as a Member of Parliament for Lehet Más politika (LMP) from 2012 to 2018, was the party’s co-chair between August 2013 and 2018, and was the party’s prime ministerial candidate in the 2018 parliamentary elections. From October 2018 to April 2022, he continued his political career as an independent representative.