Fidesz wins local government elections

As expected, the nationally governing party Fidesz won the most mayoral posts and local government seats at the local elections in Hungary on Sunday. Budapest has a new Lord Mayor, Fidesz candidate István Tarlós.

The nationally governing Fidesz had a sweeping victory at the local government elections. Its candidates won the most seats in each of the 19 county assemblies as well as in Budapest. Fidesz-nominated politicians won the mayoral race in 19 of the 23 districts of the capital, as well, with three districts going to Socialist Party (MSZP) and one to an independent candidate. The national turnout was under 50%.

In Budapest, István Tarlós received 53.6% of the votes to become the Lord Mayor, replacing Gábor Demszky who did not run this year after 20 years at the helm of the Hungarian capital. MSZP candidate Csaba Horváth got just over 29%, with Benedek Jávor (LMP) and Gábor Staudt (Jobbik) getting 9.9% and 7.4%, respectively. In the Budapest assembly, Fidesz will have a narrow majority of 17 seats against 16 of the opposition (10 for MSZP, 3 each for LMP and Jobbik).

Fidesz candidates also won in all major cities, except for Szeged in the southeast where MSZP candidate László Botka retained his seat. Although, a settlement of less importance, Veresegyház, a town of 16,000 people east of Budapest set a new record at the local government elections as its mayor Béla Pásztor (independent) has won again (with almost 65% of the votes against less than 30% of his Fidesz-backed opponent) and can start his 46th year in the mayoral position.