HUNGARIAN SOCIALIST PRIME MINISTER CANDIDATE

C O N F I D E N T I A L BUDAPEST 000870 SIPDIS DEPARTMENT FOR EUR/CE JAMIE MOORE. PLEASE PASS TO JEFF HOVENIER AT THE NSC. E.O. 12958: DECL: 12/03/2014 TAGS: PGOV HU SUBJECT: HUNGARIAN SOCIALIST PRIME MINISTER CANDIDATE Classified By: Political Officer Jon Martinson, reasons 1.4 (b,d) ¶1. (SBU) Summary. The Hungarian Socialist Party (MSZP) selected thirty-five year old parliamentary faction leader Attila Mesterhazy as its Prime Minster candidate for the 2010 national elections. A party member since 2002, Mesterhazy previously served as a State Secretary in the Ministry of Children, Youth and Sports, but has relatively few major accomplishments to his name. Literally cleaning up his act since the announcement, shaving his unique and slightly devilish goatee, he faces a tough up-hill climb to rescue MSZP from a humiliating defeat in the national elections. Whether he will be the Party's sacrificial lamb or savior in the long term remains to be seen. End summary. ¶2. (SBU) The Hungarian Socialist Party's (MSZP) executive council announced November 30 that Attila Mesterhazy will be the Party's Prime Ministerial candidate for the 2010 National elections. Thirty-five years old, Mesterhazy is clearly no newcomer to politics. A member of MSZP since 2000 and a member of Parliament since 2004, he currently heads the Party's parliamentary faction. Right-wing commentators contend, perhaps maliciously, the Mesterhazy knocked on several party doors in 1997 following his university graduation, but only the MSZP was willing to engage hm. None the less, he soon established himself in the Prime Minster's cabinet, working on European integration and economic issues, even for a few months under Viktor Orban's 1998-2002 Fidesz-led administration. ¶3. (SBU) When MSZP re-took the reigns of government in 2002, Mesterhazy returned as State Secretary in the Ministry of Children, Youth, and Sports Affairs. In this position, Mesterhazy's relationship with now former Prime Minister Ferenc Gyurcsany solidified, during Gyurcsany's time as Minister. Although the Ministry no longer exists due to government restructuring, it is associated with what is likely MSZP's biggest corruption case involving an embezzlement scandal. While not implicated, Mesterhazy was recently called to testify on several occasions, which the right-wing media has been only to happy to highlight. ¶4. (SBU) Interestingly, despite his age, Mesterhazy is not mentioned by political observers as an ideologically progressive member of MSZP. He is, as one Socialist MP pointed out, one of those young people who has "aged to the party, but never managed to help renew it." Following his selection as the Party's Prime Minister candidate, pundits pointed out that few in the MSZP would be able to list any of Mesterhazy's achievements. The question for the future is whether Mesterhazy's sleek new look, and the assistance of an enthusiastic campaign team, will net MSZP enough votes to save them for a very humiliating defeat come April 2010. ¶5. (C) Comment. Mesterhazy's nomination reflects a internal struggle among the Socialists as to who will lead the Party into the future. Mesterhazy's selection firmly anchors the Party's generational shift, which began with Gyurcsany. Mesterhazy's top competition has been 71 year old Laszlo Kovacs, Hungary's former European Commissioner, who is likely to be second on the Socialist list. Senior MFA State Secretary Vilmos Szabo confirmed this in a conversation with an EmbOff December 1, stating that "Mesterhazy's nomination was the best possible choice for the MSZP under the given circumstances." Szabo bitterly remarked that "there were no volunteers for the loser's role anyway except Laszlo Kovacs." He added that "Mesterhazy at least represents the future as opposed to Kovacs, whose communist past could be a negative factor in the election campaign." According to Szabo, Mesterhazy is determined to wage a vigorous campaign and, even if ending up on the losing side as every poll predicts, "he could be a winner if the MSZP gets considerably more support than the current 12-13 percent predicated by current polling." ¶6. (C) Comment continued. Szabo explained that the Prime Minster's' current Chief of Cabinet, Viktor Szigetvari, will direct Mesterhazy's campaign. Szabo noted that Szigetvari was the mastermind behind former Prime Minister Gyurcsany's election success in 2006 and "Szigetvari could guarantee a real professional election campaign" in 2010. Szabo firmly dismissed observers' comments that Mesterhazy is not charismatic enough, pointing out that "Bajnai proved to be a top-notch crisis management Prime Minister without any charisma." As for Mesterhazy's reported close connection to Gyurcsany, Szabo confirmed that the Gyurcsany-Mesterhazy relationship "is far from being cloudless." Szabo commented that Gyurcsany actually wanted to torpedo Mesterhazy's nomination, and his failure to stop Mesterhazy's nomination "reflects Gyurcsany's current diminished influence within the MSZP for the time being." End comment. LEVINE