Fidesz, the party led by the Hungarian prime minister Viktor Orban won Sunday’s municipal elections. The party, however, lost the battle for the capital, Budapest, to their opposition rivals.
According to data available after the majority of votes have been counted, the election in Budapest was won by Gergely Karacson, who gained 50.6% of the vote. His opponent from Fidesz, the former mayor of Budapest Istvan Tarlós, got 44.3%. Tarlos congratulated his rival on winning the mandate of the city’s mayor. In turn, as Karacsony said, the result of the opposition, which managed to win in 10 of the 23 largest Hungarian cities, is just the beginning of the road leading to taking power from Fidesz. Viktor Orban’s group achieved considerable success in cities with more than five thousand inhabitants, where they won in most constituencies. In turn, in rural areas, Fidesz and their partner, the Christian-Democratic People’s Party gained a crushing advantage over the opposition. Yesterday’s local elections is one of many in which Fidesz gained a significant advantage over the opposition over the last 10 years.