Budapest mayor in detention with corruption charges: another heavyweight player wants new elections

Dávid Vitézy, an elected member of the Budapest municipal assembly, has called for new local elections in Budapest’s 3rd district in wake of the arrest of the district mayor for alleged corruption.

Vitézy, a representative of With Dávid Vitézy for Budapest-LMP-Greens, said on Facebook that a new election was needed to allow local residents “to elect a mayor who, together with his deputy, is not heading a district with 128,000 residents from preliminary arrest”.

Vitézy criticised Budapest Mayor Gergely Karácsony for “not saying even a word about the political and administrative crisis that has developed in one of the largest districts of Budapest”.

He said the Budapest list in the local elections headed by Karácsony had included the current 3rd district mayor László Kiss (DK-LMP-Momentum-Socialists-Párbeszéd). According to the election billboards, Karácsony had recommended Kiss as “the best choice”, he added.

Photo: FB/László Kiss

Karácsony should make it clear if he maintains his support for Kiss or agrees that he should resign, Vitézy said.

“Karácsony’s party could also be implicated” in the corruption case, considering that the campaign chief of Parbeszed co-leader and 3rd district MP Timea Szabo has also been detained by police, he added.

Re-elected mayor László Kiss insists he is innocent. However, the imprisoned mayor will not be able to conduct the inaugural meeting of the local government after 1 October.

László Kiss voting on 9 June:

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