Budapest mayor: Hungary chooses to be on the right or wrong side of history
Sunday’s parliamentary election is “about war and peace but the question is who supports war”, Budapest Mayor Gergely Karácsony said adding that the vote would decide “whether Hungary is on the right or wrong side of history”.
Karácsony spoke to reporters after casting his ballot in Budapest’s 14th district, and said the opposition had delegated vote counters to every polling station to “ensure conditions for a transparent vote”.
The opposition, if it wins the election, will seek to “maintain the voting rights of ethnic Hungarians but implement changes”, Karácsony said, adding that ethnic Hungarians with
a dual citizenship should be ensured a “special mandate”. He added, however, that the citizenship act could only be amended with a two-thirds majority, and “neither side is likely to gain such a majority”.
Karácsony also said that he had cast an invalid vote in the referendum held simultaneously with the election on Hungary’s child protection law, adding that “the so-called” referendum was “more like deceit”.
Ferenc Gyurcsány, head of the opposition Democratic Coalition, and the party’s MEP Klára Dobrev, his wife, cast their ballots in Hungary’s general election in Budapest’s 2nd district on Sunday.
Dobrev told reporters she was convinced that Hungary “now has a democratic majority”, adding that
“if everybody turns up at the polls, we will talk about a government change tomorrow,”
she said.
Dobrev was asked what would happen to Peter Marki-Zay, the prime ministerial candidate of the united opposition, should the opposition not win the election, and she said “we will win and he will be prime minister”.
Source: MTI
“Years of gerrymandering and election rule changes have prompted the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe to send a 200-strong monitoring team, only the second time it has done so for a poll in an EU member state.
“The elections … will not be fair. The system favours Fidesz,” said Dominik Istrate, a Hungarian political analyst for the Central European Association, based at Corvinus University of Budapest, in a post on Twitter.
“If irregularities committed by Orbán skyrocket, the opposition could choose to reject the results,” he wrote. “Rejecting the election results would trigger a major political crisis so far unprecedented in the EU.” Guardian
A Tweet I saw today.
Republicans against Trumpism
@RpsAgainstTrump
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5h
Would be great for #Hungary, Europe and world peace if Viktor Orbán, Vladimir Putin’s best friend in the EU will lose the election today to a pro-democracy coalition led by Péter Márki-Zay, a pro-democracy anti-Putin conservative candidate.
#hungaryelections
I think it’s all but common knowledge, to all those who follow politics of Hungary, that the elections would never be fair, and that the system favours FiDESZ. All but common knowledge to all, EXCEPT to the majority of voters living OUTSIDE OF BUDAPEST, in the Counties, and therein lies the opposition’s biggest hurdle to ever winning.
As long as the majority of voters in the Counties are kept happy (and uninformed) Orbán will stay in power, and his personal power will continue to grow. With Márki- Zay as the opposition’s PM candidate, they never stood a chance. Pity,
Karácsony withdrew, His surprise decision makes me suspicious that there’s more to the story than meets the eye. Sad.
I’m very grateful to our wonderful God that Orban won. Thank You God so very much!
Orban is deeply admired around the world by all those who cherish freedom. Caring, ethical Orban is a shining light in this dark world! An outstanding role model of what a leader should be. A leader who protects his own people and nation!
Long Live Hungary! Long Live the Free World!
Contrary to what the above comment says, Orbán is not “deeply admired around the world by all those who cherish freedom.” Even main stream but right leaning media are highly critical of him.
For those who live in villages as I do, they will always vote for Fidesz. They believe the propaganda, the rhetoric, my neighbour has his radio blaring with this as he works on his grape vines. That’s who voted for Fidesz, happy with their 13 month pension, they don’t go anywhere. Believing that the Opposition would stop any financial help and send us to war, having LGBTQ activists rushing to our schools to brainwash our children. These are the people who didn’t register for the covid vaccine as they have no internet so GP’s travelled to them. They have only the basic tv channels, state controlled of course.
When you get into the countryside it’s really very different. This is how it is. Orbán knows this of course. Sadly fear is a great weapon for those who can be easily manipulated.
So for Linda Rivera, it’s not as clear cut as you may like to believe. Although I would say your views are pretty extreme.
The Major is in error, Hungarians are only on Hungary’s side. When other parties realize that Hungary’s, not the EU’s not Ukraine’s and not Russian’s interest should be the goal, they may increase the support of the voters.