Survey: 45 pc of Budapest voters prefer incumbent mayor

If István Tarlós were to run in the next Budapest mayoral election, he would have every chance of winning for a third time, according to a poll by the Nézőpont Institute, which found that he would garner 45 percent of the votes.

Tarlós, who has so far run on a Fidesz ticket, “is more popular than Fidesz,” the think-tank said on Wednesday, noting that the mayor had an 11 point advantage over the ruling party.

Nézőpont found in its poll of 800 people a left-wing candidate would have the support of 30 percent of Budapest voters and the conservative Jobbik party’s candidate would get the backing of 6 percent. A green party LMP candidate would be preferred by 8 percent in an election this Sunday.

The think-tank said the opposition was highly fragmented in the capital.

The strongest anti-government party in Budapest is the Momentum Movement (10 percent), followed by the Democratic Coalition (9 percent), while the satirical Hungarian Two-Tailed Dog Party and Jobbik were tied at 8 percent).

The Socialists and Párbeszéd had 6 percent each in Nézőpont’s poll and the LMP was preferred by 5 percent.

For that matter, Prime Minister Viktor Orbán has asked the incumbent mayor of Budapest, István Tarlós, to run for a third consecutive term in next year’s local government elections.

Orbán made the announcement at City Hall on Wednesday after meeting Tarlos.

At a joint news conference, Orbán said he would co-head a new Budapest development council alongside Tarlós.

Tarlós said he had accepted the nomination to run in the 2019 elections after “a serious internal struggle” and with “significant conditions”, including his insistence on holding a direct mayoral election and the establishment of the Budapest municipal development council.

Several of the new investment projects in the capital will run until 2030, he said.

Tarlós and Orbán also came to an agreement on central financing in the tens of billions of forints for the renovation of metro 3.

Orbán listed completed investments worth 280 billion forints, such as the refurbishment of the City Park ice rink and the National Horse Stables, the renovation of Buda Vigadó, the upgrade of the Dagaly baths and the revamp of the Music Academy among others. Projects under way amounting to 600 billion forints include the Buda Castle, restoration of the Fiumei Road and Jewish Salgótarjáni Street cemeteries, renovation of the Opera House and construction of a new athletic stadium.