While the mayor drinks lemonade, there is a political stalemate in the capital that could last for a long time.
The Metropolitan Assembly continues its political ping pong game, the deputy mayor will not be elected until next March - said Zoltán Kiszelly. According to the director of the Századvég Political Analysis Center, even though Mayor Sára Botond set a tight deadline, Gergely Karácsony still prefers to "drink lemonade" rather than take care of his deputy. According to him, Péter Magyar has made Budapest hostage to his national political ambitions, and he does not want to cooperate with Gergelly Karácsony because then he would already be joining the left.
The deadline for the Metropolitan Government Office to elect Gergely Karácsony's deputy until then expires on Wednesday next week. In response to the inquiry of hirado.hu, the body led by Chief Sára Botond wrote that "if this does not happen, the government office can decide on the use of additional legality monitoring tools".
As is known, the Capital Assembly has been unable to elect Budapest's deputy mayor since the summer.
Gergely Karácsony nominated two people for the post: Ambrus Kiss, who held the position in the previous term as well, and who has been the director general of the Metropolitan Municipality since the summer, and Dávid Vitézy, who told our newspaper several times that he would only accept the position if Gergely Karácsony accepts the two substantive and tough conditions. On the one hand, he insists that he will be able to implement as many elements as possible of his program announced during the elections and presented by hirado.hu on several occasions, and on the other hand, he expects Gergely Karácsony to change his mentality, "in which and fully adheres to each of the company managers appointed by them".
Since none of Gergely Karácsony's candidates won the support of the majority in the general assembly, this topic was removed from the agenda at the suggestion of the dialogic Richard Barabás in November, right before the general assembly vote. The government office in the capital city then stated that the general assembly thus continues to maintain the illegal situation and endangers Budapest's legal operating order.
On November 11, the government office called on the board headed by Gergely Karácsony to elect the new mayor within a month. This deadline expires on Wednesday next week.
Zoltán Kiszelly told hirado.hu's question: Gergely Karácsony, instead of taking care of the majority in the general assembly since the summer, is still only "drinking lemonade". According to the director of the Századvég Political Analysis Center
Fidesz is preparing for an opposition role, so Gergely Karácsony cannot count on the support of the ten-member faction in this matter.
"The Tisza Party, which also has ten representatives, is not interested in cooperation either, as it does not want to be on a common platform with the dollar left," added Kiszelly, who says that Tisza wants to be one step away from the Democratic Coalition, because they learned from the mistake of Péter Márki-Zay, who too opened early in the direction of the DK.
"Péter Magyar has made Budapest hostage to his national political ambition, he does not want to cooperate with Gergelly Karácsony, because then he would already be joining the dollar left," he pointed out.
When asked what he expects from Thursday, when the right to nominate goes to the head of state, Zoltán Kiszelly replied that the people of Budapest elected the general assembly, where there is also a political stalemate that could last for a long time.
The political scientist rejected the possibility of early elections, instead he can imagine a political bargain package that includes next year's budget of the capital, the new SZMSZ and the election of the deputy mayor.
According to Zoltán Kiszelly, this deal can be concluded by March next year at the latest. But he also thinks it is conceivable that Dávid Vitézy will quietly come to an agreement with Gergely Karácsony and get the part of city management that he really knows, that is, traffic management. In this case
Vitézy can "sing Christmas off the stage".
Gábor Horn has a similar opinion, who says that the current situation can be extended even until 2026. According to the chairman of the board of trustees of the Republikon Foundation, Gergely Karácsony should not stick to Dávid Vitézy, as "there are still alternatives" both in the Hungarian Two-Tailed Dog Party and in Párbeszéd.
But he also considers it possible that someone is "sacrificed" by the factions and resigned in order to "bring in" a new and more widely supported politician to the assembly.
Cover photo: Zoltán Kiszelly, political analysis director of Századvég
Source: Zsolt Szigetváry/MTI
