Ungarns Premier Viktor Orban regiert im zwölften Jahr. Dreimal gewann er in dieser Zeit Parlamentswahlen mit Zwei-Drittel-Mehrheiten. Die nutzte er zu einer radikalen politischen Umgestaltung seines Landes - von der Gleichschaltung der meisten Medien bis hin zur Kontrolle des größten Teils der Justiz. Ernsthafte innenpolitische Konkurrenz und eine Gefahr für seine Ordnung musste Orban seit seinem Machtantritt 2010 kaum fürchten.
That changes now.Hungary's six most important opposition parties that compete in an alliance for the parliamentary election in spring 2022 have after a nationwide area that last Sunday evening (17.10.2021) chosen a common top candidate.The result was a big surprise: unlike expected, the area code gained the candidate who had long been granted the fewest opportunities and who was the only party to have no party: Peter Marki-Zay, 49 years old, Mayor of a South HungarianKleinstadt, Catholic, father of seven children and founders of the activist movement "A Hungary for everyone" (mmm).
The social -liberal opposition candidate Klara Dobrev was considered a favorite, but lost the area code
Marki -Zay received 57 percent of the vote in the second round of the area code - with a record participation of 662.000 voters.His opposite candidate, Klara Dobrev from the Social -liberal Party Democratic Coalition (DK), originally considered a favorite, but ultimately only came to 43 percent.
Anti-Establishment-Kandidat
Marki -Zay is less experienced - but an extremely talented speaker and successful agitator.He is an anti-establishment candidate and is often noticeable with provocative statements and radical retirement.Paradoxically, it is primarily this role of the outsider that makes him a promising challenger of Orban.
On Sunday evening, he showed how dangerous Marki-Zay can become the Hungarian Prime Minister.In the center of Budapest, he gave a flaming speech in front of followers, which was not very meaningful in terms of content - but still many gathered for ovation and jubilation calls.Marki-Zay announced a "revolution of little people" and a "new, decent Hungary".He promised a return of Hungary to Europe and to democracy and the rule of law.
Orban's challenger in the election next spring: Peter Marki-Zay
Eine "Koalition der Sauberen" werde Orban und seine Partei Fidesz mit Zwei-Drittel-Mehrheit besiegen und die gesellschaftliche Spaltung der vergangenen Jahrzehnte durch "Liebe" beenden. Mehrfach wiederholte er sein Motto: "Nicht links, nicht rechts, sondern aufwärts!" Später sprach Marki-Zay auf einer Pressekonferenz mit Blick auf seine Außenseiterrolle davon, dass die Wähler und Wählerinnen in der Vorwahl nicht nur für eine Ablösung Orbans gestimmt, sondern auch die "Opposition ausgewechselt" hätten.
With a bang into great politics
The man who wants to defeat Orban has a not ordinary biography.He studied marketing, electrical engineering, economy and history.Between 2004 and 2009 he lived with his family in Canada and the US.After returning to Hungary, Marki-Zay worked for various electrical engineering companies and also taught marketing at the University of Southern Szeged.
Viktor Orban has been Hungary Prime Minister since 2010
Sein Eintritt in die Politik war ein Paukenschlag: Anfang 2018 trat er als parteiunabhängiger und gemeinsamer Bürgermeisterkandidat der Opposition in seiner südungarischen Heimatstadt Hodmezövasarhely an - und gewann mit klarer Mehrheit gegen den Fidesz-Kandidaten. Die Wahl in der Kleinstadt war landesweit von hohem Symbolwert: Zum einen galt Hodmezövasarhely als uneinnehmbare Orban-Bastion, zum anderen erprobte die Opposition hier erstmals das Modell eines gemeinsamen Antretens gegen den Langzeit-Premier und seine Partei. Dass Marki-Zay dabei erfolgreich war, katapultierte ihn auf einen Schlag in die große Politik Ungarns.
"Half Hungarian government is gay"
From the beginning he noticed with an idiosyncratic style and controversial positions.His anti-orban and anti-corruption drafts carry religious features, which should be due to his strict Catholicism as well as the fact that he was once a Fidesz supporter, but then disappointed from the party.He likes to position himself against supposedly harmful political correctness - he defies, for example, defiantly that he explicitly says 'gypsy' instead of 'roma' or that it is not just a child abuse, his child sometimes slaps.
Colonization after the second round of the area code in Hungary on 17.10.2021
Im Bürgermeisteramt seiner Stadt stellte er zeitweise einen elektronischen "Migrantenzähler" auf, der beweisen sollte, dass Orban trotz seiner Anti-Migrationsrethorik tausende Flüchtlinge im Land ansiedele. Jüngst behauptete er ohne Belege, Orbans großes Drama bestehe darin, dass sein einziger Sohn Gaspar schwul sei; überhaupt sei "die halbe ungarische Regierung schwul", weshalb ihre Anti-LGBTQ-Politik besonders verlogen sei. Für große Aufregung sorgte in den vergangenen Wochen, dass Marki-Zay dafür plädierte, im Falle eines Wahlsieges die geltende ungarische Verfassung mit einfacher Parlamentsmehrheit außer Kraft zu setzen und so Orbans Ordnung handstreichartig zu stürzen. Selbst Orban-kritische Verfassungsrechtler waren entsetzt.
Charismatic guide versus corrupt partitocracy
Hungarian commentators repeatedly moved Marki-Zay close to anti-establishment politicians such as ex-US President Donald Trump and accuse him of unpredictability in his statements."Paranoid charges and agitation are the style of the extreme right and not worthy of a politician who wants to be a torchbore of a new Hungarian democracy," writes the left philosopher Gaspar Miklos Tamas.
Peter Marki-Zay in a speech in Budapest on 10.10.2021: Longing for the charismatic leader
However, Marki-Zay is well received by many voters.He is extremely active on social media, and there are countless and enthusiastic comments under his posts and video interviews."For hundreds of thousands of voters, he believes that he is over the parties," writes the independent TELEX portal."He embodies archaic and at the same time postmodern expectation that a determined, charismatic leader should finally replace the corrupt partitocracy."
Orban's nightmare candidate
In the past few weeks, the opposition's pre-election campaign has been very high.The united opposition's candidates showered each other with allegations, and sometimes it no longer seemed to be sure whether a competing against Orban was still possible.However, after the announcement of the preliminary election result, all parties and all other candidates were immediately behind Marki -Zay - knowing that there is no other political path.Nevertheless, it should be difficult for the six opposition parties in the coming months to agree with the idiosyncratic Marki-Zay on a joint campaign strategy and a procedure for a possible election victory.
Orban and his party Fidesz, on the other hand, now have to come up with a new strategy: they had not expected Marki-Zay as the top candidate of the opposition.So far, the government camp on the strategy of painting the ghost of a return to the hated social -liberal reign of reign on the wall from 2002 to 2010.Klara Dobrev would have been the ideal candidate for this because she is the wife of the controversial socialist ex-premier Ferenc Gyurcsany.Marki -Zay, on the other hand, resembles Orban in many ways - with the difference that it is considered incorruptible.The election researcher Robert Laszlo put it this way: Marki Zay was the "nightmare candidate" for Fidesz.
