In Hungary, for the first time, everyone could have a say in who would become the leader of the opposition. The non-party conservative Peter Marki-Zay surprisingly won the election. He is now supposed to replace the right-wing national head of government.
For the first time, the Hungarians have a say in who will become their opposition leader. Surprisingly, the non-party conservative Peter Marki-Zay won the race. As an opposition candidate, he will challenge the right-wing national prime minister Viktor Orbán in the parliamentary election in 2022. The 49-year-old surprisingly won a primary organized by the opposition with a clear lead over his social democratic rival Klara Dobrev, as the pre-election commission announced on Sunday evening. Accordingly, Marki-Zay got 56.7 percent of the vote and Dobrev 43.3 percent.
This was the first time such a code was used in Hungary. Six previously divided opposition parties – from the left-green to the right-wing conservative – are supposed to support the winner in the election campaign against Orbán. “Today we also changed the opposition,” said Marki-Zay. The opposition can only succeed in defeating Orbán if they work together. “The way out is neither right nor left, only up,” he added. He agreed with Dobrev that the cohesion of the opposition could not be destroyed. “This is the revolution of the little people,” emphasized Marki-Zay. Young people in particular would have made the choice for him. The average age of his voters was under 40 years.
Marki-Zay’s strengths: As a conservative from the Hungarian lowlands, an avowed Catholic and father of seven children, he can appeal to voters in the country who are conservative but may no longer be so convinced of Orbán’s rule. At the same time, he does not piss off the urban, more left-wing voters of the big cities, because his conservatism is combined with open-mindedness, tolerance and the ability to compromise.
Marki-Zay studied economics, electrical engineering and history. From 2004 to 2009 he lived with his family in Canada and the USA. He only got into politics in 2018. At that time he won – also surprisingly – the mayoral election in Hodmezövasarhely. Until then, the place was considered an impregnable stronghold of the Orbán party Fidesz. The following year he repeated the election victory.
Participation in the area code reached a record high: 662 016 voters voted within six days until Saturday evening. 633,811 citizens took part in the first round of the primary election at the end of September. This value already exceeded the expectations of the organizers. There were five top candidates to choose from at the time. In the first round, citizens also voted in 94 out of 106 constituencies on the respective common direct candidates for parliament.