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In the local elections in Hungary, the ruling Fidesz party of Prime Minister Viktor Orbán suffered a sensitive defeat. In the capital Budapest, opposition candidate Gergely Karacsony defeated the Fidesz-supported candidate, with about 51 to 45 percent.
Fidesz mayors and councilors were also defeated in a dozen other large cities in Hungary. The various Hungarian opposition parties had put forward a common candidate in many villages and towns.
The result is a big blow to nationalist Prime Minister Viktor Orban, who has not suffered a defeat nine years ago since he came to power.
& #8220; I want to take the relationship between Budapest and the government to a new level. We are not ready for war with the government, but we are ready for cooperative construction & #8221 ;, said the 44-year-old center-left new mayor of the capital. & #8220; Budapest is becoming green and free, we are bringing it back to Europe. & #8221;
& #8220; This election proves that opposition cooperation works, the opposition achieved the best result in years with the new strategy, & #8221; political analyst Andras Biro-Nagy told Agence France-Presse news agency.
Fidesz is still doing well in the smaller villages in the countryside. Orban's party achieves more than 50 percent, but that is much less than before. The fact that Fidesz now receives a slap is not only related to the fact that the opposition works better together. In Hungary there was much commotion about a recent scandal involving a Fidesz mayor.
More than 8 million people were eligible to vote for more than 3,000 mayors and more than 17,000 municipal councilors. The turnout was nearly 50%, one of the highest turnouts since 1990.
