Hungarian local elections, 2006

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Hungarian local elections, 2006 took place on 1 October 2006 amidst a period of protests and demonstrations 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.

2006 protests in Hungary protest

The 2006 protests in Hungary were a series of anti-government protests triggered by the release of Hungarian Prime Minister Ferenc Gyurcsány's private speech in which he confessed that his Hungarian Socialist Party had lied to win the 2006 election, and had done nothing worth mentioning in the previous four years of governing. Most of the events took place in Budapest and other major cities between 17 September and 23 October. It was the first sustained protest in Hungary since 1989.

Ferenc Gyurcsány Hungarian politician

Ferenc Gyurcsány is a Hungarian entrepreneur and politician. He was Prime Minister of Hungary from 2004 to 2009. Prior to that, he served as Minister of Youth Affairs and Sports between 2003 and 2004.

Cold calling is the solicitation of business from potential customers who have had no prior contact with the salesperson conducting the call. It is an attempt to convince potential customers to purchase either the salesperson's product or service. Generally, it is referred as an over-the-phone process, making it a source of telemarketing, but can also be done in-person by door-to-door salespeople. Though cold calling can be used as a legitimate business tool, scammers can use cold calling as well.

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In response, Gyurcsány insisted in a speech he held in Szeged on 15 September [1] 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".

Szeged City with county rights in Southern Great Plain, Hungary

Szeged is the third largest city of Hungary, the largest city and regional centre of the Southern Great Plain and the county seat of Csongrád county. The University of Szeged is one of the most distinguished universities in Hungary.

Before the elections, the polling firm Szonda Ipsos had predicted a victory for candidates of the main opposition party Fidesz – 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. [2]

Results

Turnout in the local elections was 53.1%, which was two points higher than in 2002 [3] and the highest for municipal elections since the return to democracy in 1990. [4]

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.) [5]

The results for each were as follows: [6]

ElectionsVotes for governing partiesVotes for opposition partiesVoters for others
Mayoral elections1,150,324
27.06%
1,289,554
30.33%
1,811,185
42.61%
Elections for county and Budapest assemblies1 286 625
37.73%
1 794 292
52.62%
329 219
9.65%
Elections for municipal corporations of local settlement or Budapest district1 637 549
11.19%
2 592 926
17.72%
10 401 173
71.09%

Regarding the mayoral elections, these are the results of the cities with county rights: [7]

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: [8]

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. [9]

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References

  1. (in Hungarian) Magyar Rádió
  2. MTI Report, 22 September 2006. (in Hungarian) MTI – Hungarian News Agency Corp
  3. National Election Office Archived 2007-09-27 at the Wayback Machine .
  4. Washington Post
  5. National Election Office
  6. (in Hungarian) National Election Office
  7. (in Hungarian) VoksCentrum
  8. (in Hungarian) VoksCentrum
  9. (in Hungarian) FigyelőNet