Hungary’s opposition will in future be led by the non-party conservative Peter Marki-Zay. The previously divided opposition now wants to help him replace the right-wing national head of government Viktor Orbán.
The conservative and non-party outsider Peter Marki-Zay will challenge the right-wing nationalist Prime Minister Viktor Orbán as an opposition candidate 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 56.71 percent of the vote and Dobrev 43.29 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.
Opposition candidate addresses voters from right and left
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, rather 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 Orban 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 organizers’ expectations. 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.
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