Hungarian Conservative

After the three-day recount, it was confirmed that Karácsony received 371,538 votes, while Vitézy received 371,245.

The recount, which was conducted publicly, and began this morning in the aula of the NVB headquarters, was concluded in the afternoon, but the members of the National Election Commission deliberated for hours afterwards, before finally announcing the result at around 8 p.m. It turned out there were indeed hundreds of ballots invalidated erroneously which should have been considered valid, as Vitézy and his team suspected. The recount established that ultimately Gergely Karácsony received just 41 more votes than Dávid Vitézy.

Budapest mayoral candidate Dávid Vitézy argued that the unusually high number of invalidated ballots are grounds for a recount. 24,592 votes were tossed out in the election, while incumbent Gergely Karácsony only won the extremely tight race by 324 votes.

On Sunday, Hungarians went to the polls in an atmosphere of heightened emotions. The day after the election that saw a record turnout several conclusions can be drawn: the traditional left has nearly disappeared, anti-Hungarian conduct in the EP has been punished by voters, and Fidesz remains by far the strongest party. However, there are still many unanswered questions, especially regarding the next steps of the newcomer Tisza party.

After a Vitézy lead until after midnight, Karácsony overtook and the results at 4 a.m. showed the closest election in the history of the city. Karácsony ended up winning by as few as 324 votes.

While Vitézy led for a long time, the mayoral elections ended up in Karácsony’s favour. Fidesz took the expected 11 Parliamentary seats.

The last-minute withdrawal of the Fidesz candidate might propel Dávid Vitézy into the lead only two days ahead of the elections.

Gergely Karácsony confidently leads the race for the mayor of Budapest, according to a survey by the Publicus Institute: 46 per cent of all respondents would vote for him in the municipal elections on 9 June.

Whether Budapest will remain a stronghold of the left is at stake in the municipal elections to be held on 9 June 2024. Mayor of Budapest is practically the highest political office directly elected by citizens in Hungary, but the outcome of the June election is exciting not only because of that but also because the capital has been the scene of daily party political battles ever since the last election in 2019.