Gergely Karácsony received 293 more votes than Dávid Vitézy, the National Election Commission announced at their Friday morning meeting, following the three-day recount of votes for the mayoral election in Budapest. After the recount, it was confirmed that Karácsony received 371,538 votes, while Vitézy received 371,245. András Grundtner of Mi Hazánk finished third with 38,984 votes. It was also noted at the meeting that during the recount, thousands of votes needed to be reclassified. The NVB members unanimously voted on the final decision of the election results.
Following the closing of the polls on 9 June, both Karácsony and Vitézy’s teams experienced significant tension three times. On the night of the election,
it initially seemed like Dávid Vitézy would secure the mayoral position,
especially since Fidesz candidate Alexandra Szentkirályi withdrew in his favour at the last moment.
Around midnight, the results began to shift, and by approximately 4 am, it became apparent that Gergely Karácsony would retain the mayoral position. The difference between the two candidates was 324 votes, with nearly 24,000 invalid votes.
Three days later, Dávid Vitézy announced that he was initiating a recount of the invalid votes, as they had evidence from over 200 polling stations that votes were incorrectly declared invalid (though this did not prove true for all polling stations). Additionally, they suspected systemic irregularities, suggesting that Szentkirályi’s name had been crossed out with too thin a line on the ballots in two districts.
This occurred in Districts IV and VII, where Vitézy sought a complete re-election, which the National Election Commission repeatedly rejected. The Fidesz team in District IV did not easily accept the rejection, continuing to allege election fraud. The losing mayoral candidate in the district attributed this to the DK leadership’s machinations, claiming they used fine-tipped pens before the election to cross out Szentkirályi’s name on the ballots, thereby misleading voters.
The confusion from the withdrawal likely affected both voters and vote counters. Upon reviewing the invalid ballots,
it was found that 560 votes were incorrectly deemed invalid on the night of the election.
The ballots were reviewed in the presence of the press, revealing that clearly valid votes had been misclassified. Some ballots had a single candidate marked, while others had both Szentkirályi and Vitézy marked, which should have been considered valid. Voters who intentionally voted this way, thinking it would invalidate their ballot, were mistaken.
Related articles:
