Local elections – Socialists ready for campaign

The Socialist Party is ready for the local election campaign starting on Saturday and has a recipe to defeat “Fidesz’s little kings”, the opposition party’s leader, Bertalan Tóth, told a news conference on Friday.

Tóth said that in Budapest and in county seats, as well as in localities with more than 10,000 inhabitants, the opposition parties had forged alliances.

The ruling Fidesz’s party’s biggest headache, he added, was that opposition parties were no longer fighting each other but cooperating everywhere to replace “local Fidesz kings”.

The Socialists aim to set up local authorities that closely work with locals and provide good social services, schools and health care while maintaining transparency and fighting pollution, he said.

In Budapest, the party wants public utility providers to coordinate reconstruction works. It also wants to set up a unified parking system and renew public housing schemes, he said.

The Socialists will put a ceiling on rents, Tóth added.

Of the 23 county seats in Hungary, the Socialist Party is fielding candidates in 9 seats and around 600 candidates nationwide, he said. In other localities, the party is getting behind candidates of the leftist Democratic Coalition, the Momentum Movement and nationalist Jobbik, he said.

Source: MTI