Re-nomination of Budapest mayor to be supported in 2024

Opposition Momentum will support the re-nomination of Budapest Mayor Gergely Karácsony for the post in the 2024 municipal elections, the party’s leader said on Thursday.

The mayor is running Budapest against “a massive counteroffensive” by the government which wants “to destroy” the city, Ferenc Gelencsér told an online press conference. “But Budapest is still standing, it is functioning and prospering,” he said. “It does not matter how the state party [Fidesz], or its actual proxy organisation — this time Mi Hazánk — seeks to change the election law. Budapest is a free city and will remain so.”

Gelencsér, who is Momentum’s group leader in the national assembly, said his party was ready for a compromise, adding that it was also ready to back the nomination of candidates on a joint list in constituencies where the opposition stood a good chance to win.

Momentum MEP Anna Donáth said her party and the mayor shared two fundamental values, namely liberalism and green thinking. “Our support behind Gergely Karácsony is a natural continuation of a values-based cooperation, not the result of back-door deals,” she said.

Thanking Momentum’s backing, the mayor said it was about a mutual support, adding that he could always count on the party’s councillors “in fights” over the past four years.

Karácsony called Momentum an important partner in the Budapest assembly’s coalition, adding that in most strategic issues the party “was a bit closer” to his “will” than any other parties.

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