Presidential election 2017 – Majtényi hails presidential campaign as ‘success story’

Budapest, March 13 (MTI) – László Majtényi, former presidential candidate of the opposition parties, has hailed the past two-and-a-half-month period since his nomination for presidential candidate as a “success story”.

Ex-ombudsman Majtényi lost Monday’s presidential election in parliament to incumbent János Áder 131 votes to 39.

Speaking at a press conference after the vote, Majtényi congratulated Áder on his re-election and wished him “a much more successful second term”.

Majtényi argued that his campaign had been a success story as it had generated a level of unity among parties “loyal to constitutionality” not seen since Hungary’s transition to democracy.

Answering a question, he said the question of whether the parties that had nominated him would continue to cooperate with each other did not depend on him, adding that he did not believe that he would be “a central figure” of any kind of cooperation that may follow. He said the parties that had backed him had “probably done cool-headed calculations” of the potential political or societal benefits this joint effort would bring them. Majtényi added that he expected the parties to conduct similar analyses of the benefits of working together in the future, too.

He said he would take part in one more political protest on March 15, a national holiday, adding, at the same time, that he harboured no political ambitions.

Photo: MTI

Source: MTI