Budapest city assembly postpones deputy mayor vote amid political tensions

Budapest’s city assembly removed from the agenda a vote on the city’s deputy mayors from its session on Wednesday.

The removal was proposed by Richárd Barabás, group leader of Párbeszéd-Greens, and was adopted with 18 votes for, one against and three abstentions. In a debate before the vote, Barabás said “there seems to be no consensus” concerning the candidates.

Gergely Karácsony, Budapest’s mayor, has proposed Ambrus Kiss, director-general of the mayor’s office, and Dávid Vitézy, group leader of the Podmaniczky Movement, for the posts.

Gergely Karácsony. Photo: MTI/Hegedüs Róbert

Alexandra Szentkirályi, group leader of the ruling parties, slammed the proceedings and called the vote’s postponement “unserious”.

“The left-liberal majority has the power to elect” those officials, she said, and decried that “a rainbow coalition … as reflected in the nominations for deputy mayor” was forming in the assembly.

In his response, Tisza’s Áron Porcher said his party had not proposed the voting order and that the decision was up to the mayor.

Karácsony said his task was to support the assembly’s decision-making and he had proposed the voting order “aware of that responsibility” and in a transparent manner. He added that “most groups have no objections” to the procedure.

Krisztina Baranyi of the Two-Tailed Dog Party and mayor of the ninth district regretted that the vote was removed from the agenda and warned that the continued failure to elect the deputy mayors could lead to the assembly’s dissolution. She said the situation should be resolved not only by the mayor but also by the largest groups in the assembly.

Meanwhile, the opposition Democratic Coalition (DK) said it would submit an amendment to the 2025 budget, saying that it was designed to introduce austerity measures concerning Budapest and other municipalities. DK’s MP Erzsébet Gy Németh said the government had “geared up tangibly in its effort to destroy Budapest”, adding that her party would “not let that happen”.

In its proposal, DK would reduce the solidarity tax imposed on larger municipalities to the 2019 level of an annual 10 billion forints while calling for a grant of 200 billion forints for Budapest to buy new suburban train carriages. Also, the tax on vehicles “should be given back to Budapest” and be used exclusively for road repairs, according to DK.

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