Hungarian Conservative

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.

Despite focusing his campaign on fighting against corruption and for more transparency in politics, opposition firebrand Péter Magyar decided to jump into the 2024 EP and municipal elections in a very unusual: he founded a civil organization around himself, then that organization partnered with a ‘phantom party’ founded in 2021 to get Magyar’s candidates on the ballot.

‘Living in a republic means striving to treat each other well,’ the mayor said, adding this was the kind of homeland the heroes of 1956 had wanted. He said the symbol of the revolution, the Hungarian flag with a hole, sent the message that unity was only possible if no one was being told, in the name of any ideology, how they ought to love their homeland.

Gergely Karácsony’s 99 Movement received over 650 million HUF in funding, mostly after they went inactive with the Budapest Mayor dropping out of the primary race for prime minister. The organisation claims that the bulk of its revenue came from ‘microdonations’ collected in cash in drop-boxes at live events. However, even opposition media admit that this is more than unrealistic given the large sum, and the fact that much of it came in foreign currencies.