On 13 October, Hungarian citizens went to the polls and voted for the local governments across the country.

In these elections, the main opposition parties – including ALDE Party members Momentum and Liberálisok – launched a cooperation strategy to defeat the ruling party Fidesz (EPP) and ran together in several municipalities. The united opposition won in key areas including the capital city of Budapest where it secured 18 out of 33 seats in the Budapest’s General Assembly and the common opposition candidate, Gergely Karácsony, was elected mayor after obtaining more than 50% of the vote share and defeating incumbent Fidesz candidate Istvan Tarlos. Karácsony won in 14 of 23 districts of Budapest and in 10 counties.

From the biggest cities, four out of five are now led by the united opposition. ALDE Party member Momentum got officials elected in every county assembly in Hungary as well as six mayoral positions and became the most popular opposition party in the country.

These results are the first blow to Prime Minister Viktor Orbán and his party Fidesz in a decade showing that Hungary is ready to defend democracy and replace the current illiberal regime. Hungary is certainly ready for a change!

Momentum party leader András Fekete-Győr commented on the results: “We have won. We have the opportunity to replace the Orbán system based on profanity, corruption, and oppression in 2022. But we will win when we disrupt the Orbán system from the Hungarian economy, state and legal institutions. The central power field was destroyed, and Viktor Orbán and his system have suffered their most serious historic defeat since 2006”.

Following the elections, on a press release, Liberálisok stated: “The victory of Gergely Karacsony and the opposition candidates proved that the power of Fidesz was overturned and that the illiberal regime of Viktor Orbán could be replaced” (see full article in Hungarian here)

Full results available here.

https://twitter.com/momentumhu/status/1183512254635003904?s=20

https://twitter.com/RenewEurope/status/1183482513836126208?s=20

https://twitter.com/katka_cseh/status/1183488529650855936?s=20