Talks, deals, names, battles, predictions, promises: here is a quick review on the country's first-ever primary elections.Continue reading
The 20 thousand signature endorsements necessary for running in the opposition primaries have been gathered by prime ministerial candidate Klára Dobrev of the social-liberal Democratic Coalition. She is the second candidate to be eligible for the primaries after leftist green party Párbeszéd leader Gergely Karácsony gathered all 20 thousand in less than a day.
After two days of the opposition parties’ signature drives, Dobrev informed ATV News that she had gathered enough signatures to run in the primaries this fall. While those who run as prime ministerial candidates need 20 thousand signatures, candidates aiming to be representatives in the National Assembly only need 400.
Any Hungarian citizen can endorse as many candidates as they like with their signature.
So far only Dobrev and Karácsony are set to go head-to-head, but Péter Jakab from Jobbik, András Fekete-Győr from Momentum, Péter Márki-Zay from the Everybody’s Hungary Movement, József Pálinkás from the New World People’s Party, and Áron Ecsenyi’s Down with 75% of Taxes are all running for candidacy.
The signature drives for each party began on Monday and will continue into the beginning of September, while the first round of the primaries will take place between September 18 and 26. If no candidate receives 50 percent of the vote after the first round, a second round will be held between October 4 and 10. Voting can be done both online and in person.
Candidates are noticeably in support of the concept of a joint opposition, since rivals have been seen signing each other’s endorsements. Karácsony signed the endorsements of Péter Márki-Zay and Péter Jakab, while András Fekete-Győr signed the endorsement of Karácsony.
Featured photo via Klára Dobrev’s Facebook page
