Prime Minister Viktor Orbán said he considered the deals made with outgoing Budapest Mayor István Tarlós to remain valid without changes.
Orbán, who is also the leader of the ruling Fidesz party, told pro-Fidesz news channel HírTV on Wednesday that the local council elections had been won despite some “poignant losses” suffered especially in Budapest and a few other large cities.
What’s most important from the government’s point of view is that an overall 1.8 million supporting votes were cast for the ruling parties, significantly more than for the opposition, Orbán said.
“As a result, I would like to see the bold and self-confident governance of the past nine years continue because the support necessary for good work has been expressed for the government’s programme,” Orbán said.
The decision of the people of Budapest must be accepted, he said. “Budapest has had a Demszky era, then a Tarlós era and now people have decided that something new should follow,” he added.
People voted in support of Gergely Karácsony, the joint opposition candidate for Budapest mayor, hoping that he would be a better leader for the city, Orbán said.
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“My job is to give him a chance and provide the necessary conditions,” he added.
Orbán said the new Budapest leadership would work under unchanged conditions. Hungary is a democracy and people expect their leaders to work together, Orbán added, wishing Karácsony success.
The government developed fair relations with all local governments in the past and this will remain unchanged, regardless of party affiliations, he said.
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Commenting on Zsolt Borkai, the mayor of north-western Hungary’s Győr who had a sex scandal, Orbán said it was difficult to tell how much this case had affected the local elections.
He said it was not his job to pass judgement on the private life of any politician but, in his capacity as Fidesz leader, he had an obligation to make it clear that some things “just don’t fit” in the community.
“The consequences had to be drawn and that’s why Zsolt Borkai has left our political community,” Orbán said.
First, it was necessary to wait for the people of Győr to decide about Borkai’s candidacy to remain the city mayor but after that Orbán said he had to act as party leader and do what was “evident”.
featured photo illustration by Szilárd Koszticsák/MTI