The alleged UDMR (Democratic Alliance of Hungarians in Romania) split no longer seems actual. Marko Bela simply dominated his opponents at the UDMR Convention held in Satu Mare at the end of last week, when he was reconfirmed as UDMR leader. On the other hand, the Reformed bishop Laszlo Tokes, a fierce critic of the UDMR leadership has lost his honorary chairmanship, with Marko's moderates elegantly removing him by eliminating this position.
The unsurprising re-election turns Marko - the Alliance leader since January 15, 1993, into one of the longest-lived party leaders on the Romanian political stage. At the same time, by keeping its unity, the party preserves its "mediator" position for any ruling formula. A possible UDMR split would have seriously complicated things for PSD (Social Democrat Party), which has found UDMR to be an ally which, although inconvenient in certain cases, is nonetheless essential to ensure the smooth running of Adrian Nastase' minority Cabinet.
Although quite a noisemaking faction, the UDMR hardliners have turned out to be too weak to actually be capable of disputing Marko's position in the end or at least postpone the vote until after internal elections, as Tokes would have liked to. Outnumbered, they chose not to take part in the decision-making process arguing they had no intention of witnessing the Alliance's "disintegration."
Laszlo Tokes did not attend the Convention, but organised a religious meeting bewailing the state of the Magyars and criticising the Alliance leaders just a stone's throw from the building where the UDMR sessions were held.
However, the danger of a split, theoretical as it is at the moment, is still there, but the Convention at the end of last week proved that Marko's opponents are not as many as they appeared to be.
The leader of UDMR's Reformist Bloc, Toto. T. Tibor, one of Marko's fiercest adversaries, said this faction would have its own Convention in February and decide what to do next. He, however, was not so final in his words about leaving UDMR as he had been several weeks before. Neither will Tokes leave the Alliance, as he is " an ardent UDMR supporter" and does not believe in an Alliance "split" as he himself said.
On the other hand, Marko Bela is willing to forgive his rivals. The decision to eliminate the honorary chairman position from UDMR's Statute was "a painful" decision that had to be made, as he said, adding," I don't think we divided the Magyars into two sides. This is not our intention."
The UDMR Convention was attended by the Romanian and Hungarian Prime Ministers, Adrian Nastase and Peter Medgyessy in the first day. The latter said the Alliance had to be united as it was for the best interest of the Magyar community.
PM Adrian Nastase in his turn said PSD and UDMR had learnt the "co-operation lesson" and that the ruling party would like to have the Alliance as "a long-term partner."
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