Green opposition party Politics Can Be Different (LMP) has suspended talks with fellow opposition parties after they failed to reach a cooperation agreement ahead of the April general election. 

Hungarian opposition parties now are promoting a high turnout at the polls that could be damaging for the incumbent party and help opposition forces, as polls show that more people want a change of government than those who favour the ruling Fidesz.

The green party left the door open for further talks, but time is running out with only three weeks left before the election. LMP is open to further negotiations and did not exclude the possibility of withdrawing individual candidates to support other parties, the party’s two co-leaders Bernadett Szel and Akos Hadhazy said on March 19, after talks with Jobbik, which preceded negotiations with leftist opposition parties on Sunday.

The party has taken up the role of mediator between leftist parties and Jobbik, which has shifted its stance from the radical right to become a centrist people’s party. Prospects of all major opposition parties running on a single list have been unlikely since the start, but the Socialists, the Dialogue and the Democratic Coalition (DK) have been striving to forge a full-scale coordination agreement with LMP in a bid to file joint candidates in all 106 constituencies.

On March 18, LMP leaders sat down with leaders of the three leftist parties, but talks ended without an agreement. The leftist opposition parties blamed LMP, which said it would only cooperate if Jobbik is on board. However, Jobbik leaders firmly rejected any public engagement in a looser coalition with the Socialists or DK at a national level, which in their view would be scaring their voters. 

Political analysts did not rule out that there are behind closed doors talks at local levels between leftist parties and Jobbik.

Fidesz changed the electoral system prior to the 2014 elections, reducing the number of seats in the legislature and replacing the two-round with a one-round system, which makes it nearly impossible for fragmented opposition parties to beat ruling party candidates, unless they run on a joint party list or withdraw candidates in favour of each other.

The majority of seats, 106, are elected as single-member districts, while the remaining 93 are distributed proportionally by regional list vote with a national threshold of 5%. The polls show Fidesz holding a comfortable lead with 45-48% of decided voters, but a wave of corruption allegations seems to have mobilised opposition supporters and undecided voters, who could be the decisive force in the election.

After the prospects for a wider cooperation now seem unlikely, opposition parties are now focusing on mobilising the electorate. Political analysts say they have a chance of pushing Fidesz into a minority if election turnout exceeds 70%, as polls show some 60% of voters want a change of government. 

In order to have a chance at winning at least 100 of the seats, opposition parties still need to withdraw candidates in districts where the race is expected to be close. Analysts say this is possible in 40-50 districts and in that case they may have a chance of sealing an unexpected victory.

There are at least three websites launched by civil groups or pollsters gauging the support of opposition candidates in all 106 constituencies. This is done to help voters to pick the candidate who stands the highest chance of beating Fidesz.