According to the online portal “hvg.hu”, the liberal conservative received 371,560 votes (56.7 percent) on Sunday evening. In the parliamentary elections in spring 2022, Mrki-Zay is set to challenge the right-wing national prime minister Viktor Orban. The social democrat Klra Dobrev received 283,677 votes (43.3 percent).
“Battle won, not the war”
Dobrev has already congratulated Mrki-Zay on his victory and assured him of their full cooperation. On the evening before his supporters in Budapest, 49-year-old Mrki-Zay thanked above all the young voters who had contributed to his victory. At the same time he warned: “We only won a battle, not the war.” Orban’s ruling party Fidesz will not be too expensive to expose him as a top candidate. He also thanked the defeated Social Democratic candidate Dobrev.
It was the first such area code in Hungary. Six previously divided opposition parties – from left-green to right-wing conservative – are supposed to support the winner in the election campaign against Orban.
Hungarian Trump
In the first round of the election, Dobrev had 34.8 percent of the vote, followed by the green-liberal Budapest Mayor Gergely Karcsony with 27.3 percent and Mrki-Zay with 20 percent. After the first round, Karcsony decided not to participate in the second round of voting in favor of Mrki-Zay. Karcsony and Mrki-Zay had repeatedly emphasized that with Dobrev as the top candidate, Prime Minister Orban could not be defeated in the parliamentary elections. The reason given was her marriage to the controversial ex-head of government Ferenc Gyurcsny.
The former Orban supporter Marki-Zay has been mayor of Hodmezovasarhely, a former stronghold of the ruling Fidesz party, since 2018. The Catholic and father of seven may therefore have attracted disappointed Orban voters. Political scientist Zoltan Kiszelly described Mrki-Zay to the APA as “Hungarian Trump”. Mrki-Zay would present himself as an anti-establishment candidate. With this he wanted to distance himself from the time before the change of government in 2010 and to address voters who are dissatisfied with this time, emphasized Kiszelly. Mrki-Zay would recommend himself as the “opposition of the opposition”, as a “renewal of the opposition”, as a “bearer of hope” and thus collect points. Since Mrki-Zay does not have a party of his own, he is forced to form an alliance with the other opposition parties.
Then the “crucial question” would come. While Mrki-Zay is voting for a government of experts, the Democratic Coalition (DK) in particular is pushing for a government of politicians. If Mrki-Zay were to make this alliance after a possible victory, including with the DK of Ferenc Gyurcsny, Fidesz would immediately equate him with the controversial former Prime Minister Gyurcsny. It was also “rumored” in Budapest that Mrki-Zay wanted to break this alliance and create his own list and power base with the liberal party Momentum and other parties and public figures who supported him. This constellation would be far more dangerous for Fidesz, emphasized Kiszelly.
