Democratic Coalition’s (DK) Klára Dobrev has garnered most of the votes at the opposition primaries’ first round, followed by Párbeszéd’s Gergely Karácsony and Péter Márki-Zay. A tough second round is foreseen to elect ruling Prime Minister Viktor Orbán’s challenger for the next general elections.
Following initial disruptions, voting time has been extended by two days and was eventually concluded on Tuesday evening. While final results had been promised for Wednesday evening, this had to be similarly delayed.
As we previously reported, almost 634,000 people (or some 8% of the total number of voters) eventually turned up at the ballot boxes, either online or offline, a number that exceeded initial expectations.
Eventually, DK’s Dobrev won in most of the constituencies, followed by incumbent Budapest mayor, Gergely Karácsony, and Hódmezővásárhely mayor, Péter Márki-Zay, whose good results surprised many and who is rather regarded as an outsider. While not one relevant pollster predicted András Fekete-Győr to have a chance to get in the final three, Jobbik’s Péter Jakab’s performance is definitely below expectations.
According to the rules, since Dobrev didn’t bag more than 50% of the votes, a second round will follow involving the best three. Her good performance, however, doesn’t mean that she can already claim herself to be Orbán’s challenger. Both Karácsony and Márki-Zay have already spoken of a potential withdrawal in favor of the other in order to prevent controversial former PM Ferenc Gyurcsány’s wife’s eventual victory.
As of the current standings, the second round will be held between October 4 and 10.
featured image via Balázs Mohai/MTI