About us
C O N T E N T
Brief history
Politics Can Be Different (in Hungarian: Lehet Más a Politika), abbreviated as LMP, was founded in 2009. The party was preceded by a non-governmental social initiative founded in 2008, with the purpose of reforming Hungarian politics. LMP shares common ideologies with most green parties in Europe.
A few months after its establishment LMP participated in the 2009 European Parliament elections and received 2.61% of the votes. It was less than the 5% needed to gain a seat for the 2009-2014 cycle, through beating the 2.16% received by one of the parties already in the national parliament. In the 2010 parliamentary elections, the party achieved 7.48% in the first electoral round, thereby clearing the 5 percent electoral threshold, gaining 16 seats in the parliament. In the local elections of 2010 October 3, LMP gained 54 seats in local city councils, with at least one representative in most of the district councils of the capital, 3 seats in the General Assembly of Budapest.
Who are we?
Our society is in urgent need of renewal. Hungary, Europe and the World could be much friendlier, better places to live in. We established LMP because we aim to achieve this renewal based on the core values of sustainability, justice, and participation. We come from different walks of life, but we all want real democracy, social justice and a healthy environment. We know politics can be different and are going to prove it. And yes, we count on everyone.
Why are we different?
New faces, authentic voices. This party is not run by worn-out politicians. It is a joint initiative of hundreds of people with proven professional experience and achievements. We are committed citizens with a clear vision of bringing about change in public affairs on the local, national and European levels. Clean hands. Instead of powerful interest groups, we represent and rely on responsible citizens. As opposed to existing parties, our finances are fully transparent. What we have we mostly owe to our dedicated volunteers. What we will have we will acquire in a fully transparent way. Citizens’ dialogue instead of party-monologues. We want to see real people involved in politics. We actively see k peo ple’s knowledge and o pinio n. We want them to get their v o ice heard. That is how we started, that is how we are going on. Nothing but dialogue and feedback can keep politics accountable.
What makes our approach different?
The loss of credibility of democratic politics today is endangering the foundations of social solidarity and peo ple’s faith in demo cracy itself. When citizens igno re po litics, po litics igno res citizens. The economy is held ransom by corruption; while a decent living is becoming a dream for more and more people. With inequalities at unacceptable levels, the small minority funding the public purse cannot be further burdened. Narrow group interests easily prevail against weakly represented common interests, thus destroying the environment around us and endangering the lives of future generations. Renewal is possible, if we recognise and believe that we are working towards it and are willing to cooperate with one another. We are convinced that renewal can best be achieved by relying on three basic values. These are:
- sustainability, responsibility for an environment worthy of mankind, for the lives of future generations and for global ecological issues;
- social justice and integration, and decisive action against exclusion passed down from generation to generation;
- genuine participation and democracy based on autonomy, where the state is accountable and citizens are actively involved in shaping public policy.
These values are intrinsically linked. In this century the concept of sustainability will designate the limits of responsible politics. Mankind is currently exploiting the Earth far beyond its ability to renew itself. If we want our descendants to be born on a habitable planet, we have to change this urgently. We cannot claim to be powerless: Hungary is a mem ber state o f the world’s leading business po wer, the Euro pean Unio n, which provides numerous opportunities for action. But ecological sustainability in itself is unrealisable without justice and social participation. The relationship between the ecosystem and human society can only be sustainable if the inner relationships of society are sustainable themselves. Most political issues are moral issues. The key question is how to conduct public affairs in line with personal human dignity and responsibility for one another, and how to distribute equitably the goods resulting from social cooperation. The concept of justice is indispensable, even if the word has become tarnished by the loss of credibility of Hungarian politicians incessantly using it. In the globalising world the power relations between capital and society are developing in a way which is different from even a few decades ago. It is our joint responsibility to stop entire social groups losing out and becoming isolated, and to stop social exclusion being passed down from one generation to the next. It is unacceptable that in to day’s Hungary, institutio ns financed by taxes are reinforcing social inequalities instead of reducing them.
The General Assembly of Budapest
Democratic institutions must be re-conquered so that we can participate in the making of decisions affecting our fate. Only a community of citizens involved in and aware of public affairs is able to exercise control over the representational system and thus ensure that decisions made in their name genuinely serve the common good – and, within this, justice and sustainability. However, participation is not only a tool of good governance, it is also an objective, one which arises from the need of the human individual for self-determination, and which gives the unique moral value of democracy. It is our conviction that the true reason for the rise of anti-democratic political extremes is the loss of moral credibility of democracy, for which the only long-term remedy is participation.
