György Gattyán, Hungary’s 3rd richest person, who made his fortune in the porn industry, has officially announced that he will run in the 2022 parliamentary elections with his new party. Hungary’s united opposition, however, believes Gattyán’s potential entry into the field serves the interest of Viktor Orbán and his ruling Fidesz party.
One of Hungary’s wealthiest businessman, with a net worth of 280 billion HUF (0.866 billion euros), recently announced that he would transform his newly formed movement, revealed in November, into a party called the Solution Movement (Megoldás Mozgalom) and run in the 2022 elections.
Gattyán, who has made his fortune with the adult streaming site LiveJasmin, says his goal is the change of government, but he believes Hungary’s most prominent opposition parties which united against governing Fidesz ahead of next year’s election lack the strength to succeed.
Gattyán’s announcement came as no surprise, as he had previously talked about his political ambitions several times, but never gave much details, so his exact intentions were rather unclear at first.
The businessman’s only somewhat tangible promise is the digital transformation of Hungary’s health care, education and government.
Also, strangely enough, there is no trace yet of György Gattyán’s new party in official registrars, RTL News reports. With so little time left until the elections, it puts the party’s campaign in doubt.
The united opposition had already reacted to György Gattyán’s possible candidacy, saying that the billionaire’s participation in the elections serves the interests of Fidesz, as it divides the electorate.
“We can only overcome Fidesz with full collaboration of the opposition,” Péter Márki-Zay, the opposition’s joint prime ministerial candidate previously told RTL News. “Any action that aims to divide the opposition serves Fidesz’s interests,” he added.
This time Gergely Karácsony, the opposition mayor of Budapest responded to Gattyán’s official announcement. According to Karácsony, the businessman’s political ambitions come straight from the mind of the Fidesz government’s communication and campaigning chief, cabinet minister, Antal Rogán.
In response to the accusations, the billionaire said he could not be blackmailed or bribed.
Featured photo screenshot via ATV’s youtube channel
