Local elections in Hungary: a few hundred votes could decide the mayor of Budapest – UPDATE

Candidates for Budapest mayor have garnered the following percentage of votes with 100.00 percent of the votes counted, the National Election Office announced on Monday:

1. Gergely Karácsony (Democratic Coalition-Socialists-Dialogue-Greens) 47.53 percent (371,467 votes)

2. Dávid Vitézy (For Budapest with David Vitezy-LMP-Greens) 47.49 percent (371,143 votes)

3. Dr. András Grundtner (Our Homeland Movement) 4.98 percent (38,943 votes)

Karácsony: Budapest ‘set to remain a republic’

It looks like Budapest “will remain a republic and won’t become a publicly traded company”, Gergely Karácsony, the city’s mayor, said early on Monday.

“There’s still a few percent’s worth of uncertainty, but — though the result is close — it looks like Budapest will remain a republic and won’t become a publicly traded company,” Karacsony, the joint candidate of the Dialogue-Greens, Democratic Coalition and Socialist parties, said at City Hall Park.

He thanked the Budapest residents who voted in the election and those who supported him in fighting the battle he said he was fighting for the city.

Karácsony said he knew there would still be “a bit of see-sawing” before the outcome was made final, but he believed that Budapest would remain a “diverse and free city exercising solidarity”.

Vitézy calls for Budapest mayoral ballots to be recounted

The ballots for Budapest mayor will be recounted, so no final result will be forthcoming in the early hours of Monday, Dávid Vitézy, the candidate of LMP-Greens and the For Budapest with Dávid Vitézy Association said in Budapest after the local and EP elections.

According to the website of the National Election Office, some 22,000 ballots were invalid, hindering both candidates in clinching a convincing majority, Vitezy said.

Vitezy said he had tried to discuss the issue with his main competitor, the incumbent Gergely Karácsony, but couldn’t reach him on the phone.

With 99.26 percent of the vote counted, Vitezy had 47.49 percent of the vote, while Karácsony, the candidate of the Dialogue – Greens-Socialist-Democratic Coalition parties, had 47.52 percent.

Vitézy said the results showed that Budapest had “a vibrant democracy”. He said that although who would end up being mayor was uncertain, the result “is a huge success for us … because it shows that it was worthwhile campaigning with programmes, a vision of Budapest and with issues impacting its inhabitants,” he said.

Vitézy thanked voters for casting their ballots and activists and volunteers for “making Budapest citizens aware that the city can be led better and developed at a faster pace.”

Read also:

• Elections in Hungary: the most important happenings, details HERE.
• Péter Magyar: Tisza to prove itself as Hungarian government’s only real challenger

UPDATE

Metropolitan election cttee confirms mayoral election results

The Metropolitan Election Committee (FVB) announced on Monday that the incumbent mayor of Budapest, Gergely Karácsony, has been elected with 371,466 votes.

The committee said there were 806,142 stamped ballots in ballot boxes of which 24,592 were invalid and 781,550 were valid.

Dávid Vitézy (Dávid Vitézy for Budapest-LMP-Greens) had 371,142 votes, while András Grundtner (Our Homeland Movement) received 38,942 votes.

The committee’s decision is not binding and can be appealed within three days if a breach of the law can be cited. It is then that the National Election Committee would examine new facts and evidence.

UPDATE 2

Still no decision on who will be the Mayor of Budapest? Vitézy calls for a recount