POLL – No opposition candidate could defeat incumbent Budapest mayor

None of the opposition candidates could defeat the incumbent mayor of Budapest, István Tarlós of ruling Fidesz, if the municipal elections were held this weekend, a poll released by Nézőpont Institute on Saturday showed.

Tarlós had the support of 71 percent of Budapest respondents, according to the poll Nézőpont conducted this month for daily Magyar Nemzet.

If challenged by Gergely Karácsony, the joint Socialist-Párbeszéd candidate, Tarlós would win the ballot 50:36.

Should Olga Kálmán, a television personality backed by the Democratic Coalition, come out as a winner of the opposition’s ongoing preselection process to field a candidate against Tarlós in the autumn municipal elections, the incumbent mayor would defeat her 48:38.

Tarlós, serving as mayor since 2010, would defeat Momentum Movement’s Gábor Kerpel-Fronius 54:22 and independent Róbert Puzsér 55:18, the poll showed.

According to the poll, 62 percent of Budapest respondents see Tarlós fit to serve as mayor, as against 35 percent saying the same about Karácsony and 31 percent holding this view about Kálmán.

Nézőpont conducted the poll by asking 1,000 voting age adults by phone between June 14 and 19.

Source: MTI