Orban-backed Budapest mayor candidate concedes defeat

A candidate for Budapest mayor backed by Prime Minister Viktor Orban’s party conceded defeat on Friday, ensuring re-election for a prominent opposition politician after more than a month of legal wrangling.

After losing by a slim margin, former state secretary for transport David Vitezy went to court to contest the June 9 ballot, alleging widespread mistakes during the counting.

But recounts of invalid and then valid votes confirmed incumbent Mayor Gergely Karacsony’s re-election after the capital’s unusually tight race.

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Karacsony got just a 293-vote margin out of the more than 800,000 ballots cast, according to the latest results on Friday.

“The recount did not change the final result. Gergely Karacsony won the election, he is the next mayor of Budapest. I congratulate him,” Vitezy, 38, who got the last-minute endorsement of the ruling nationalist Fidesz party, said on Facebook.

Karacsony, 49, a prominent opposition politician from green party Dialogue, thanked his voters.

“There is nothing left to recount. And there is certainly one good thing about this, that I have the reason and the means to say it again: thank you, Budapest!,” he posted on Facebook.

Opposition parties wrestled control of Budapest in 2019 from the ruling party by joining forces across the political spectrum to seek to pose a challenge to Orban, who has firmly ruled the central European country since 2010.

But after a devastating loss in the 2022 parliamentary election, their opposition alliance broke up, with green party LMP fielding Vitezy to challenge Karacsony for his seat.

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Vitezy was endorsed by Fidesz, after its candidate dropped out of the race just two days before the vote.

Despite his victory, Karacsony is expected to face difficulties in carrying out his agenda, such as to improve public transport and create more green spaces, after the newly elected city council is sworn into office in October.

The coalition backing him — which comprises two left-wing parties besides his own green party — only won six seats in the 33-member assembly, in addition to his seat as mayor.

The municipal elections, including for Budapest, were held throughout the country on June 9, at the same time as the European elections.

© Agence France-Presse