While the Jewish community waited to see what the swing to the right would mean for them following the general elections, they had no illusions about what the entry of István Csurka, leader of the MIEP Hungarian Justice and Life Party, would mean. The winning of 14 seats made this group the first far-right party to enter Parliament since World War II.

Csurka, a playwright-turned-politician, has a long history of activism in Hungary, and his anti-Jewish, anti-Gypsy and racist attitudes are well known. He proudly boasts of his friendship and cooperation with French extremist Jean-Marie Le Pen. He has labeled a number of enemies as working against "real Magyar interest" including New York, Tel Aviv, the World Bank and the International Monetary Fund, and routinely blames "global financial circles" and "cosmopolitans" for undermining Hungarian interests. His newspaper, Magyar Forum, promotes conspiracy theories about Jewish plans for world domination, attacks Jews as Communists, and accuses "non-Hungarian elements" (a code word for Jews) of controlling the Hungarian media and as outside forces "destabilizing Hungary." According to Anti-Semitism Worldwide 1997/98, in September 1997, Magyar Forum claimed that since Israel would be unable to meet the challenge of absorbing Jewish immigrants and the Palestinian conflict, Jews were beginning to implement a secret plan to invade Hungary and make it into a new safe haven for Jews.

In 1993, Csurka headed a group of hardline nationalist dissidents who had left the then-ruling Hungarian Democratic Forum (MDF) and formed MIEP. In the 1994 elections, Csurka and the MIEP did not meet the 5 percent threshold necessary to enter Parliament. In 1998, he ran on an anti-Europe platform, urging Hungarian independence from international financial institutions. In the election, MIEP's major support reportedly came from rural poor and uneducated voters, as well as from old-time aristocrats.

The MIEP enjoys power that vastly outweighs its representation in Parliament. The parliamentary rule of 1990 permits only parties with at least 15 members of Parliament to form a caucus. Even though the MIEP held only 14 of the legislature's 286 seats, however, Hungary's Constitutional Court allowed the party to form a caucus. This gave MIEP representatives the right to be elected to committees, and have financial advantages, continual presence in the media and greater influence in Parliament. The most recent "generosity" of Orbán's ruling coalition in Parliament towards Csurka: Although two MPs left MIEP, the 12 remaining representatives are still allowed to operate and benefit as a caucus.

Next: Failure to Challenge Anti-Semitism and Racism