Márki-Zay Acknowledges Victory of Orbán and Fidesz

The opposition candidate for prime minister has acknowledged the election victory of Viktor Orbán and Fidesz. Speaking to his supporters for about an hour after Viktor Orbán’s victory speech, Péter Márki-Zay said that the election was not fair or equal, and that Fidesz owed its victory to propaganda and “brainwashing.”

“I am shocked, like everyone else, and do not want to hide my frustration,” – Péter Márki-Zay began his speech with these words. Only the members of his family stood behind him (he is a father of seven), and no opposition politicians were present.

The prime ministerial candidate of the opposition alliance said they did not believe the election would end up like this. They knew it would be an “unequal struggle,” he said, blaming the heavy opposition defeat on Fidesz’s “brainwashing,” the ruling parties’ media dominance, and them changing the electoral system years ago.

He stressed that they acknowledge the victory of Fidesz, which is a strong victory, but it also needed “this system” in which it has materialized. Therefore Márki-Zay argued that the elections were not democratic and free. According to him, Fidesz has won with lies, hate campaigns, and the silencing of the opposition, for example in public media.

It was an unequal and an unfair fight, but we took it on because we were confident that we could win the election, even with our legs tied and with spears in our backs.”

“It was propaganda that won the election, not honesty and honor,” the opposition politician said, adding that he did not believe that people could be so misled.

Márki-Zay then began to use historical analogies, recalling that not only was Milosevic more popular than anyone else in Serbia, but that he thought Hitler would probably have won a two-thirds majority in Berlin in 1945, already surrounded by the Russians.

According to Márki-Zay, the only consolation they have had in four years is that on Sunday morning they saw Viktor Orbán fearing that he would lose power.

“For four years I have staked my life on dismantling the system,” he said. “We believe we did our best, we had unity, we had an excellent program that would have given the Hungarians a much better and and freer country.”

Márki-Zay said he is now hearing from many people that they were considering packing up and leaving the country. He asked everyone to calm down and love each other. He stated that he will stay in Hungary, and asked the opposition to continue to stick together.

The most important thing is that we stand before the Hungarian nation and the judgement of God with a clear conscience. We have done our best in the past four years and especially in the past year,”

he said, thanking everyone for their work.

“Times ahead are going to be tough, but this is our country, we will not give up on it,” the opposition politician said, promising that they will be there to protect anyone who will be attacked by Fidesz for their political views, their origin or their sexual orientation for the next four years.

“Forgive them, Lord, for they know not what they do,” he quoted Jesus.

Believe me, you were right, you who thought that integrity is the most important, that Hungary’s place is in the West, that criminals must be punished, that there is no equal distance between murderer and victim,”

Márki-Zay said, referring to Russia’s aggression against Ukraine.

“We will restore the honor of the country. We will prove from the opposition that honor and decency have not been lost in Hungary,” he concluded.

Featured photo by Tibor Illyés/MTI