Local elections took place in

Hungary Hungary ( hu, Magyarország ) is a landlocked country in Central Europe. Spanning of the Pannonian Basin, Carpathian Basin, it is bordered by Slovakia to the north, Ukraine to the northeast, Romania to the east and southeast, Serbia to the ...

on 1 October 2006 amidst a period of

protests and demonstrations A protest (also called a demonstration, remonstration or remonstrance) is a public expression of objection, disapproval or dissent towards an idea or action, typically a political one. Protests can be thought of as acts of cooper ...

against the government of Prime Minister Ferenc Gyurcsány. In many cities, demonstrators urged people not to vote for the MSZP candidate at the elections, and Fidesz made heavy use of the fact that Gyurcsány had admitted lying in its campaign leaflets and

phone calls A telephone call is a connection over a telephone network between the called party and the calling party. First telephone call The first telephone call was made on March 10, 1876, by Alexander Graham Bell. Bell demonstrated his ability to "ta ...

. In response, Gyurcsány insisted in a speech he held in

Szeged Szeged ( , ; see also other alternative names) is the third largest city of Hungary, the largest city and regional centre of the Southern Great Plain and the county seat of Csongrád-Csanád county. The University of Szeged is one of the m ...

on 15 September that the local elections would have no bearing on his party staying in power, and "''those who don't want a war between the government and the city should know whom to vote for''". Before the elections, the polling firm ''Szonda Ipsos'' had predicted a victory for candidates of the main opposition party

Fidesz Fidesz – Hungarian Civic Alliance (; hu, Fidesz – Magyar Polgári Szövetség) is a right-wing populist and national-conservative political party in Hungary, led by Viktor Orbán. It was formed in 1988 under the name of Alliance of Young ...

– 34% of the people asked said they would vote for Fidesz, while only 22% voiced a preference for the MSZP. The opinion poll showed Fidesz with a clear lead in towns having fewer than 10,000 inhabitants (Fidesz 38%, MSZP 19%) and a narrow lead in larger towns (Fidesz 30%, MSZP 26%), while the two parties ran equal at 27% each in Budapest.

Results

Turnout in the local elections was 53.1%, which was two points higher than in 2002 and the highest for municipal elections since the return to democracy in 1990. Interpretation of the results is complicated by the fact that a number of different offices are at stake in municipal elections. Hungarian voters elect their mayors; the county and Budapest assemblies; and the municipal corporations of their local settlement or Budapest district. (Moreover, the latter of those three elections, at least in mid- and large-sized settlements and the Budapest districts, take place under a mixed electoral system, which means votes are cast both for an individual candidate and a party list.) The results for each were as follows: Regarding the mayoral elections, these are the results of the cities with county rights: * Fidesz: 15 mayoralties (+10 compared with 2002) * MSZP: 7 (-6) * SZDSZ: 0 (-3) * Other: 1 (no ch.) In Budapest, Gábor Demszky was re-elected as city mayor as SZDSZ/MSZP candidate. These are the results of the mayoral races for the individual Budapest districts: * Fidesz: 8 mayoralties (+4 compared with 2002) * MSZP: 11 (-4) * SZDSZ: 2 (no ch.) * Other: 2 (no ch.) The polling firm ''Median'' opined that the scandal concerning Gyurcsany's admission of having lied did not affect the outcome of the elections as much as it was expected to, as support for MSZP had already hit an all-time low by early September: 33% of the voters polled had expressed their support for Gyurcsány in September, as compared to 35% in August and 38% in July.FigyelőNet
/ref>

References

{{Hungarian elections

2006 in Hungary Local elections in Hungary October 2006 events in Europe

Results

See also

References