Hungary: Mayor Marki-Zay wins run-off to challenge Orban

Peter Marki-Zay will lead a united opposition into parliamentary elections

A conservative provincial mayor has been chosen to face off against Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban in next year's election.

Peter Marki-Zay, a political outsider with no party affiliation, won an opposition run-off primary on Sunday.

He will now lead a united opposition into the parliamentary elections.

Opinion polls suggest he has the best chance of ousting the right-wing prime minister, whose Fidesz party took office in 2010.

"We want a new, cleaner, honest Hungary, not just to replace Orban or his party," Mr Marki-Zay told jubilant supporters in Budapest.

Mr Marki-Zay, 49, a practising Catholic and father of seven, was 20 points ahead with around half the votes counted when his centre-left opponent Klara Dobrev congratulated him on his victory.

"From now on I support Peter Marki-Zay," Ms Dobrev said during a concession speech, urging opposition unity after a bruising election campaign.

• Could this man oust Hungary's powerful PM Orban?

For years Fidesz has benefited from the fragmentation of opposition parties.

But for the first time since he came to power, Mr Orban will now face a united front of opposition parties that also includes the socialists, liberals and the formerly far-right, now centre-right, Jobbik.

Mr Marki-Zay has sold himself as a palatable option for voters from the left and right, including those tired of Mr Orban's often divisive policies, such as anti-immigration and anti-LGBTQ drives.

The new opposition leader, who has lived in both the US and Canada, made a name for himself in 2018 when he won the mayoral election in the southern town of Hodmezovasarhely, which was considered a Fidesz stronghold.

"We want to get rid of the big boys bullying the whole class," Mr Marki-Zay said at the time.

But there is a long road ahead for Mr Marki-Zay, who has vowed to stamp out corruption and heal divisions in society. Polls suggest there is little between Fidesz and the opposition alliance.

In a statement, Fidesz said their rival had signed a pact with the political left to help them return to power, and raise taxes, labelling him a "career leftist".