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Wh y F i d e s z Lo s t : A S u c c e s s f u l Go v e r nm e n t…
the government. Apart from the “coach and six,” the prime minister often consulted with
his personal counselors, and similar to the role of Alistair Campbell in the United King-
dom, the spin doctors’ influence rivaled that of the ministers.
2
In 2000 a member of the “coach and six,” László Kövér, took over the duties of party chair-
man. The idea was to ease the burden on the prime minister in order to free him from
everyday politics, giving him a role more similar to that of a president. This shows the
steadfast authority of the prime minister within the party and the parliamentary group.
During four years of power, only twice did the fraction confront the prime minister. Both
these cases involved relatively minor issues, and both ended with the prime minister’s vic-
tory, marginalizing his opponents influence within the party. Broadly speaking, the prime
minister had unanimous support among the party and the fraction.
Tensions Within the Center-Right Government’s Coalition
Being a surplus majority coalition, it was Fidesz and the FKgP that would decide upon the
configuration of the government. The MDF, whose votes were not needed for majority, had
little bargaining potential, and little influence on the coalition’s work. Its ministry of justice
has traditionally been the weakest, overseeing the smallest amount of money. Moreover, by
the end of the term, the prime minister had basically taken control of the ministries.
If we want to characterize the ideological base of the government, we can find three com-
mon points in the coalition parties’ interests: (1) replacing the post-Communist Socialist
party and its coalition partner; (2) reinforcing social cohesion; (3) restoring the values of
civic meritocracy.
In spite of deep differences in style, the coalition was stable for the first two years. The coali-
tion experienced its greatest shock when the corruption cases of the FKgP’s ministries were
disclosed, tracing all the way to the leader of the party, forcing him to resign from his minis-
terial post. This shock to the party started its initial decline. MPs of the FKgP who survived
the scandal joined the fraction of Fidesz to continue their career, while the party itself disin-
tegrated in less than a year. A large majority of its voters turned to Fidesz. Many members of
the FKgP involved in the corruption scandal claimed that Fidesz masterminded disclosures
in order to discredit and undermine their party. They attempted to persuade MPs to leave
the coalition, but were generally unsuccessful.
3
The merging of the FKgP into Fidesz led
toward the polarization of the party system. All of the intra-coalition disputes took place on
topics of party politics; there were practically no conflicts on policy.
Achievements of the Civic Government
In spite of the consolidation of power that took place at the beginning of the term that aug-
mented the decision-making power of the prime minister, the government had its hands
tied by somewhat overprotective regulations originating from the immediate post-Com-
2
During the four years in government, Orbán’s main spin doctor was András Wermer.
3
A relatively smaller crisis appeared between Fidesz and the MDF when the latter tried to form an alliance with
parties outside the parliament to have its scope of action increased. Fidesz considered this to be a violation of the
coalition agreement and convinced the MDF to halt all talks.
