Partyless mayor Peter Márki-Zay will challenge Prime Minister Orbán in Hungary’s upcoming parliamentary elections. Márki-Zay won in two rounds the primary elections of the joint opposition parties, which have united in one anti-Orban front. In the second round, he defeated the Social Democrat and MEP Klára Dobrev with 56 percent of the vote.
Márki-Zay (49) thanked his supporters tonight. He promises to fight for a “new Hungary”, where “both left and right; Jews, gypsies and gays” are embraced with love. “Prime Minister Orban has reason to be afraid,” opposition leader said.
Opposition parties from the left to the far right united last year to form a single anti-Orbán front, as Hungary’s graduated district system gave the individual parties little chance of winning. In polls, the united opposition list and Orbán right-wing populist Fidesz party are al for months neck-and-neck.
Every Hungarian voter was allowed to vote for the list leader last week. More than 660,000 votes were cast. This also includes Fidesz voters, who could help decide who would be the challenger to their own party leader. In addition to one leader, a joint opposition candidate is also elected for each constituency.
Political Newcomer
Márki-Zay can safely be called a surprise winner of the opposition elections. With the lowest advertising budget of all candidates, he finished third out of five candidates in the first round, behind Dobrev and the Liberal Mayor of Budapest, Gergely Karácsony. He seemed to have the best papers for the party leadership at the start, but Karácsony stepped out of the race after the first lap and expressed his support for Márki-Zay.
The non-partisan Márki-Zay is known for being moderate and conservative; he once described himself as a “disappointed Fidesz voter”. The father of seven is a newcomer to politics: after a career as an economist and marketer, in 2018 he ran for mayor of his hometown: the Fidesz stronghold of Hódmezovásárhely in southern Hungary.
He managed to beat the Fidesz candidate. How? Three disparate opposition parties rallied behind him.
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