If that weren’t enough, more scandal has surfaced recently. A vice president of the Socialist Party, Gábor Simon, was forced to resign when a newspaper revealed that he had reportedly more than $1 million in a bank account in Austria, which he had neglected to declare since 2008. He has also been charged with forgery for holding a fake passport reportedly used to open other bank accounts. Making matters worse, Mr. Simon claims that the money is not his own, that he has been only an “asset manager” and that senior party officials knew about the accounts.
The voters, according to the polls, are not impressed. Support for the opposition alliance has fallen since its formation in January, many apparently defecting to the far-right party, Jobbik, and the green party, LMP. Because the coalition comprises more than three parties, it must meet a threshold of 15 percent to enter parliament. One recent poll had them as low as 16.”