Their loss of votes could be in the order of thousands because they invalidated votes in such a way that there were two votes on the ballot, while the votes were valid, since the second one was drawn for Dávid Vitézy, who is still in the race, next to Alexandra Szentkirályi.
Dávid Merker believes that many people in the polling stations were not aware of this rule because the committees were notified too late.
According to Dávid Merker, who is in fourth place on the joint list of the candidate for mayor and the LMP, the participation data and regional patterns were in their favor. According to their data, where Gergely Karácsony performed well before, based on the participation, it can be said that the increase in the number of votes was much smaller. They expected a 1-1.5 percent victory, which was overwritten by invalid votes. "At one point the model overturned, it seemed that something was wrong".
For example, there were constituencies that were won by Zsolt Wintermantel, who ran in the district mayor's election, but Dávid Vitézy lost to Gergelly Karácsony
- said Dávid Merker, adding that VII., VIII. and IV. the largest number of invalid votes, with a blatantly high proportion, were cast in the district compared to the list votes in the capital. Therefore, the Mercereks examined the ballots and saw that where Alexandra Szentkirályi's name was drawn correctly, the proportion of invalid votes was very low, and where it was not, it increased or was exceptionally high. There were times when Alexandra Szentkirályi was removed from the ballot paper.
A question for the voters of Péter Magyar
The vice president of the Tisza Party asked his voters to vote invalidly in the mayoral elections. According to Dávid Merker, the data show that where Péter Magyar had many voters, very few invalid votes were cast.
Ballots had a significant impact. It follows from the large number of invalid votes that many people cast their votes for Szentkirályi Alexandra
- said Merker, adding that according to the current situation, 17.1 percent of Vitézy's voters supported another list with their vote in the capital.
Vitézy: Systemic problems arose in some districts regarding the invalidation of votes
The problem of double iks
According to Merker, many people did not notice at first that Alexandra Szentkirályi was selected, and when they did, they cast their vote for Vitézy. The former candidate of Fidesz, for example, was barely visible in Újpest and the II. district.
According to the regulations: "the ballot is invalid, which
a) is not provided with the official stamp impression,
b) contains more votes than specified by law, or
c) does not contain a valid vote.
(2) A vote which
a) not submitted in accordance with § 186, paragraph (2),
b) submitted to a candidate or list that was eliminated".
The validity of the vote - if it meets the other conditions - is not affected if the ballot paper also contains an invalid vote according to paragraph (2), or if any comments were made on the ballot paper, for example, the order of the candidates or lists was changed, the candidate's name or list was crossed out, name, list added
– is stated in the regulation, which also clarifies the problem of double taxation.
According to Merker, the loss of votes could be of the order of thousands due to the fact that votes were invalidated in such a way that there were two votes on the ballot, while the votes were valid, since the second vote was drawn for Dávid Vitézy, who was still in the race. He believes that many people in the polling stations could not have known about this rule because the committees were notified late.
"They are legally valid, but have been considered invalid in several places"
- said Dávid Merker.
According to the results, it was a very close fight, but Gergely Karácsony won in Budapest. The reigning mayor collected 371,467 votes (47.53 percent), while his challenger, Dávid Vitézy, received 371,143 votes (47.49 percent).
Featured image: Dávid Vitézy, the mayoral candidate of the LMP and the Association for Budapest with Vitézy Dávid gives a speech at the local government election results event in Budapest on June 10, 2024. MTI/Zoltán Balogh
