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[above] EPA/Tibor IllyesWith more than 278,000 followers on Facebook, Hungary鈥檚 Two-Tailed Dog Party was the most popular party on social media to stand in the country鈥檚 2018 election. However, its online popularity did not help win seats in the vote which delivered Viktor Orb谩n a聽. In an anti-establishment approach, the Dogs鈥� campaign was carried out entirely by volunteers and official campaign funds were used to support community projects.
Despite only coming away with 1.71% of the votes, however, the party has pushed an important boundary in Hungarian politics.
Puppy training
The Two-Tailed Dog Party was founded in 2006, although formal recognition didn鈥檛 come until 2014. It defined itself as a joke party from the start, becoming famous for making fun of other political groups 鈥� mainly the mainstream Fidesz, led by Orb谩n.
Its activities range from street art to graffiti to urban gardening. It even smuggles soap and toilet paper into hospitals in order to highlight the dire state of some healthcare facilities. In 2016, the party crowdfunded 鈧�100,000 to cover the country in satirical posters mocking the government鈥檚 call to vote against EU refugee quotas in an聽.
A Two-Tailed Dog sticker appears on a Budapest lamp post.Then in 2018, just a couple of weeks before the deadline, the party managed to get enough signatures to be able to participate in the national parliamentary elections. The jokers were getting serious.
In an election campaign dominated by the supposed 鈥渢hreat鈥� posed by immigration and the perceived influx of migrants to Hungary, the Two-Tailed Dog party used social media to draw attention to a statistic published on the national police website showing that one migrant had been 鈥渃aught鈥� in the last 30 days. Its satirical response to this shocking figure read: 鈥淭here is an enormous interest in our country. But we cannot rest assured: The migrant entered our country.鈥�
Domestication
All political parties use emotions to persuade people to vote for them. The Two-Tailed Dog party and its kind are trying to undermine establishment organisations by turning humour into political action.
In a process social scientists call 鈥渒ynicism鈥�, the Two-Tailed Dog party borrowed and remixed government messages for its own aims. The idea is to mock the government鈥檚 rhetoric in order to disperse fear and anxiety.
In Hungary, it鈥檚 unclear what the future holds for the Two-Tailed Dog party, or these joke parties more broadly. There is a fundamental mismatch between the way everyday politics works and the vision of the party.
Party leader Gerg艖 Kov谩cs told us:
I can鈥檛 really tell how many of our Facebook fans would vote for us 鈥� To be honest, for me the parliamentary elections are not important. For me, it鈥檚 much more important to see what we can do 鈥� I have to confess: my aim is to create something creative and funny, and yet meaningful 鈥� I think it is useless to have one more opposition party that has a serious programme. I have no interest to do politics in the traditional way.
If the case of Iceland鈥檚聽聽shows us anything, it is that parties like the Two-Tailed Dog have a tendency to lose their edge once they gain political influence. In 2016 the pirates topped opinion polls, and seemed to become a real political force by winning ten seats in the parliament. However, in the latest elections, they won only six seats.
Alternative parties, like the Two-Tailed Dog exist to mock from outside the mainstream. But what鈥檚 the point of a political party if it doesn鈥檛 really want to get elected and to introduce its policies?
For now, that鈥檚 not a question the Two-Tailed dogs need to answer, since they failed to make it into parliament.
But the group has nonetheless radically re-energised young people. It has tested the limits of convention in Hungary鈥檚 political process. Kov谩cs told us that when it comes to larger campaigns, 鈥渢wo thirds, or three quarters, of our ideas come from the people 鈥� For instance, we write an economic programme, post it to Facebook and in a couple of minutes, there are three to four better ideas in the comments, so we take it down and add these ideas. So, in fact it really comes from the people鈥�. The next step is for the group to translate those likes on social media into actual votes.
, Marie Curie Research Fellow,听听补苍诲听, Associate Professor, Head of Research and Professional Practice, Department of Media Production,听
This article was originally published on聽. Read the聽.
