By-elections were held in two larger Hungarian settlements over the weekend, reports Magyar Nemzet, with the Fidesz-KDNP candidate, backed by Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orbán, winning both races: The results are calling into question the strength of the opposition Tisza Party, touted as the biggest challenge yet to Orbán’s rule in Hungary.
Gábor Kavalecz won in Veszprém and Sándor Malinás in Óbuda for the ruling parties. In Veszprém, the candidate of the local left-wing civil society organization won second place, and in Óbuda, a politician from the Two-Tailed Dog Party won second place.
The Tisza Party, led by Péter Magyar, did not field a candidate in either place. Magyar also did not run a candidate in Tolna County last week; albeit a Fidesz stronghold, the governing parties had never previously achieved such a large victory there, winning 64 percent of the vote.
Turnout was above 32 percent in both elections, which can be considered average, while neither settlement is considered a Fidesz stronghold. Although Veszprém has a government-led government, the left-wing list usually performs well in the city in the parliamentary elections (for example, most recently, more people voted for the opposition than for Fidesz on the list), while Óbuda has been governed by the left since 2019. Gergő Czeglédy, who is accused of corruption and was previously the deputy mayor of the 3rd district, also won easily in the 6th constituency, which is now electing a representative.
Tisza has been busy pushing polling results from left-wing companies showing the party well ahead of Fidesz nationwide. These recent elections thus would have been a good way to prove whether such polling was accurate.
This Sunday’s interim results don’t seem to bode well for Magyar, who aside from posting on Facebook about his experience taking part in El Camino in 2023, only noted yet another by-election in the small town of Tiszakécske where an independent won, noting Fidesz had taken nearly 75 percent of the vote in June. Still, there was no Tisza candidate in this race either.
