Status: 08.10.2021 2:57 p.m.
Budapest’s Mayor Karacsony has withdrawn from the running for the opposition’s top candidacy in the Hungarian parliamentary elections. He was predicted to have a good chance of beating Prime Minister Orban.
He was runner-up in the first pre-election round: Nevertheless, Gergely Karacsony is now withdrawing from the race for the top candidacy of the opposition parties for the Hungarian parliamentary elections. “I have come to the conclusion that if I don’t step down, Viktor Orban will stay in office,” said Karacsony.
In the spring, Hungary will elect a new parliament. In order not to lose again to Prime Minister Orban’s ruling party Fidesz, this time the opposition wants to send a joint candidate into the election campaign. Six parties, from left-liberal to conservative, belong to the alliance that Orban wants to win the majority out of.
Qualified for the second round
“I believe that Peter Marki-Zay will be able to unite the opposition and lead it to an election victory,” said Karacsony. Marki-Zay is mayor of the city of Hodmezövasarhely and went into the primary as a conservative candidate.
In the first pre-election round of the opposition party alliance, both candidates were defeated by competitor Klara Dobrev. She received 34 percent of the vote, Karacsony 27 percent and Marki-Zay 20 percent. All three qualified for the second round of the primary on Sunday.
However, the two losers doubt that Dobrev can ultimately win the election against Orban. She is Vice-President of the EU Parliament and is married to the former Prime Minister Ferenc Gyurcsany. Gyurcsany admitted in a secret internal party speech in 2006 that he had lied to the voters. When that got public, there was violent unrest.
Changed the right to vote in favor of the governing parties
Karacsony’s resignation could weaken Dobrev’s position in the second round of primaries. Karacsony and Marki-Zay spent a week negotiating which of the two should withdraw. Although Marki-Zay was only third in the first round, he insisted that only he could win against Orban because he could convince left and conservative Hungarians.
Orban’s party Fidesz, together with the right-wing populist KDNP, has held a two-thirds majority in the Hungarian parliament since 2010. In April 2011 they passed a new constitution in which the right to vote was changed in favor of the governing parties.