"It cannot be denied that Sunday's election is a devastating result for the future of Hungary, as it failed to replace the most corrupt government in Hungarian history," the opposition's statement reads. Continue reading
If the joint opposition had won the election, Márki-Zay would have been in line to become prime minister, but now he had to choose between his parliamentary seat and his mayoral post. Márki-Zay said earlier that he is more likely to stay mayor, but he has now officially announced his decision on his Facebook page.
“After much deliberation, I decided not to take a seat in Parliament,” the joint opposition’s candidate for prime minister wrote.
Márki-Zay continued his post: “Viktor Orbán has proven time and time again that what he accuses us of, without any basis, he himself does.” Here, he referred to Fidesz’s repeated claims that the opposition would send Hungarian soldiers to Ukraine and interfere in the war. “Now I have to protect the children of Vásárhely from being taken by Fidesz to Ukraine to be bullet traps, including four of my sons who are not even soldiers,” Márki-Zay wrote. He also added: “As the Mayor of Hódmezővásárhely, my most important task now is to strengthen the trust of my beloved city, to maintain a city government free of corruption and politics, to ensure responsible management, and to deliver on the rest of my promises.”
Today, the Fidesz propaganda machine is also able to make people believe that white is black, that a right-wing, father of seven children, rural Christian mayor is Gyurcsány’s man, that he hates the countryside, and that he would send his own children to die in a foreign war… In this situation, I don’t even want to maintain the pretense that Hungary is a parliamentary democracy where the opposition can achieve anything in parliament, so I will not sit in the seat I have won as list leader.”
Márki-Zay also wrote: “But even as a rural mayor, I will not abandon the 106 heroes who ran in the election, nor the candidates in the primaries, the 27,000 vote counters, the hundreds of thousands of young people, the million-strong Roma community, and the two million opposition members.”
He concluded his post by writing: “Let us stand together, comfort the despondent, stand up for the persecuted. God save Hungary!”
Péter Márki-Zay’s full post can be read here.
Featured image via Péter Márki-Zay’s Facebook post