Fidesz conducts local survey on Socialist mayor and prime ministerial candidate’s wealth

Ruling Fidesz has carried out a survey in Szeged to find out what the city thinks about Socialist mayor and prime ministerial candidate László Botka’s accumulation of wealth, a lawmaker of the co-ruling Christian Democrats said on Monday.

Altogether 86 percent of the survey’s respondents said Botka should account for luxury belongings he had failed to disclose in his asset declaration, István Hollik told a press conference detailing the results of the survey.

Among such luxury belongings, Hollik noted a 25 million forint (EUR 81,000) SUV used by Botka’s wife and the mayor’s luxury watch.

The survey revealed that most Szeged residents were aware that Botka had tried to keep these belongings secret and that Fidesz’s local council group had initiated an asset-declaration procedure against him, Hollik said. Most residents say it is wrong for Botka to exclude his luxury belongings from his asset declaration while campaigning for the rich to pay their fair share, he added.

Hollik called on Botka to clarify how he has money to pay for luxury trips, SUVs and luxury watches.

He said the mayor should also reveal whether there is any connection between his accumulation of wealth and “the criminal organisation run by” Szombathely left-wing opposition politician Csaba Czeglédy, who has been arrested on suspicion of large-scale budgetary fraud.

The Socialists responded in a statement, saying that “rather than entertaining” the citizens of Szeged who elected Botka four times as their mayor “with propaganda disguised as a survey”, Fidesz should admit that it “cheated” to win the 2010 general election.

Source: MTI