Monday, October 18, 2021
Hope in Hungary
Marki-Zay declares war on Orban
In the opposition area code, he is still considered an outsider. Now Peter Marki-Zay is set to run against Hungary’s Prime Minister Viktor Orban in the parliamentary elections in April 2022. If he wins an election, he wants to reverse controversial laws.
Peter Marki-Zay has already proven that he can defeat the Fidesz party of Hungary’s Prime Minister Viktor Orban. In 2018, the conservative politician won the mayor’s by-election in the small southern Hungarian town of Hodmezovasarhely, which had been a stronghold of the ruling party for decades. Now the 49-year-old is faced with the challenge of repeating his success on a national level: on Sunday, Marki-Zay was chosen as the opposition’s top candidate for the parliamentary elections in April.
The economist and engineer attracted nationwide attention in 2018 when he surprisingly beat the Fidesz candidate in the mayoral election in his hometown of Hodmezovasarhely. Even in the opposition area code, he was initially considered an outsider. In the first round of voting, Marki-Zay only finished third behind the Budapest Mayor Gergely Karacsony. However, he was then able to convince Karacsony to withdraw from the race.
In the second round of the primaries, Marki-Zay then met the European politician Klara Dobrev from Hungary’s largest opposition party, the Democratic Coalition (DK), who has had international experience as Vice President of the European Parliament since 2019. And in this duel, too, the mayor from the province prevailed and landed well ahead of Dobrev with 57 percent of the vote.
“We want a new, cleaner, honest Hungary”
After his victory in the primary, Marki-Zay declared war on Orban’s government. “We want a new, cleaner, honest Hungary,” said Marki-Zay after announcing his election victory on Sunday evening. It is about eliminating “the most corrupt system” in the history of Hungary.
Marki-Zay has seven children. The practicing Catholic takes conservative positions. He lived in the United States and Canada for five years. In contrast to Dobrev, he addresses both left and conservative voters in the broad opposition alliance who are disappointed by Orban’s policies.
Marki-Zay can understand the disillusionment of many former Fidesz supporters from his own experience, as he used to vote for the party himself. Marki-Zay said he was “devastated” when Orban was not re-elected in 2002 after his first term as prime minister. When Orban returned to power in 2010, however, he no longer felt represented by his politics.
Since Sunday, the small town mayor has been the bearer of hope for all those Hungarians who want a new government after more than a decade under the right-wing populist Orban. As the “Welt” reports, Marki-Zay wants to reverse controversial Orban’s laws and introduce the euro in Hungary.