Opposition introduces 21st district mayoral candidate

Budapest’s 21st district is in need of development schemes that will better the lives of its residents, Gergely Karácsony, the opposition’s joint candidate for Budapest mayor, said on Friday, introducing the opposition’s local mayoral candidate.

The district needs more green areas rather than “the buildings of a creeping Olympics” or a wrestling arena, Karácsony told a press conference.

“It’s not Szilárd Némeths but leaders who will help the local community that are needed,” he said, referring to the local leader of the ruling party.

Karácsony said the autumn local election was not just about the race between Fidesz and the opposition parties, but also about “taking the city back together”.

Éva Erdősi, the local candidate, said she wanted to be a mayor for all of the district’s residents. She said the locals were tired of being called “the capital’s poorest district”, insisting that this had to change.

In a statement, Németh said that efforts in the past two municipal cycles had helped the district to be “constructive, pay off its debts, and focus on children”, adding that the opposition would “again destroy” the district if its candidates won power in the upcoming election.

Németh insisted that the district’s earlier, leftist management had been characterised by “corruption, amassed debt to the tune of billions of forints, the looting of public assets, paedophilic acts by a Socialist deputy, and infighting verging on murder”.

Németh also said that “not too long ago Karácsony thought that district 21 was a part of northern Budapest” and insisted that the candidate was “completely unknown” to local residents.

Source: MTI