Urban development expert Vitézy candidate for Budapest mayor

Dávid Vitézy, an urban development expert and former state secretary in charge of public transport, has announced that he will run for Budapest mayor in the upcoming municipal elections.

In a video streamed on Facebook, Vitézy pledged “real development rather than party political fights, empty promises and the shunning of responsibility”.

Among the problems currently facing Budapest, Vitézy mentioned a housing shortage, saying “there aren’t enough affordable homes for sale and rents are too high”.

He insisted that suburban public transport services were sub-standard, while health services were deteriorating. Budapest’s public areas “are unattractive”, he said, citing a dearth of parks and pedestrian areas. “Areas outside the Grand Boulevard have been neglected, with all funds used to develop the tourist-beaten tracks of the Inner City,” he said.

Those problems, Vitézy said, had been neglected because

“Budapest has been made a battlefield of political parties … with the war between the two sides suffocating all developments: while the government blocks all major projects the city leadership acts as a martyr and falters — even when they have to opportunity to make progress.”

“We cannot wait for those to resolve the problems of Budapest who have caused those very problems,” Vitézy said, adding that he had comprehensive plans for “further developments, new parks, public spaces, renewal of the local train, new tramlines and affordable housing built on brownfield sites.”

As we wrote earlier, Fidesz nominated spokeswoman Szentkirályi as Budapest’s mayoral candidate; details HERE. This also means that Fidesz voters will be split between two candidates, which favours the current leadership.

Mayor Karácsony reacts

Mayor Gergely Karácsony posted his reaction:

After my election as Mayor, I asked Dávid Vitézy to take on a professional role. He said he couldn’t do it because Viktor Orbán wouldn’t let him, and he didn’t want to be a soldier who fled from North Korea to South Korea and was shot in the back by his own people. He was not allowed to do a professional job, now he is being sent to do a political one. No matter. Free Budapest takes in refugees and defeats invaders.