Péter Márki-Zay: I do not wish to maintain the impression that Hungary is a parliamentary democracy

Following his defeat in Sunday’s election, Péter Márki-Zay announced that he will not be accepting his credentials, and will not become an MP for the next four years. The united opposition’s prime ministerial candidate and mayor of Hódmezővásárhely announced this on his Facebook page: “After a lot of thinking, I have decided not to join Parliament. At this time, my task will be at home, in Hódmezővásárhely, to protect the children from being taken by Fidesz to Ukraine to become bullet catchers – this includes my four sons, who are not military-aged yet”. He had already hinted at this on Monday, when he told Telex that he intends to focus on his hometown.

Márki-Zay wrote that a significant number of voters were completely misinformed by the one-sided, lying propaganda machine. “They were defenseless against the lies of Fidesz. They actually believed that Orbán, who is in love with mandatory military service, and who even sent soldiers to hospitals (during the pandemic – ed.) is the guarantee for peace, and that the opposition would actually send completely untrained youth to die in Ukraine. (...)

In this situation I don’t wish to maintain the impression that Hungary is a parliamentary democracy, where the opposition has any chance of achieving anything at all in Parliament. This is why, as leader of our list, I will not sit in the seat I won.

As mayor of Hódmezővásárhely, my most important task right now is to strengthen the trust of my beloved town, to maintain a leadership free of corruption and politics, to maintain responsible governance, and to fulfill my remaining promises” – he wrote, without mentioning that it will be up to the opposition parties to decide who will receive his seat.

He also added that in his opinion, this election proved that within the current system, it is impossible to remove Fidesz from leadership.

In a recent interview he gave to RTL television’s news, the united opposition’s candidate for prime minister apologised for losing the election.

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