"It's worth being fair, running a positive campaign, and leading the city with dignity, honor and humility," Budai proclaimed victoriously.

But we've been here before.

And the question that was never resolved is: how can you translate such a model to national prospects?

Because this, to be clear, was the election map in #Jászberény last year in the general election (constituency results)...

#Hungary #ElectionMaps

But the main thing to note is that Budai won by staying far away from *all* party labels and logos.

Eschewing the temptation to bet on a protest vote in this time of runaway inflation, he steered away from polarized national politics in #Hungary by focusing entirely on local politics in #Jászberény.

"I see that, both nationally and locally here, the parties have lost their credibility," he explained.

https://24.hu/belfold/2023/01/15/budai-lorant-jaszbereny-polgarmester-valasztas/

... while Momentum celebrated an alliance that didn't just want to restore the pre-2010 status quo, and the MSzP accused DK of running 4 independent candidates (who got 5-7%)

#Hungary #Jászberény

Which all raises two questions: why, and how?

For #Hungary's opposition politics it's meaningful that the race was won without DK, currently far ahead among non-Fidesz parties in the polls.

Jobbik pounced, declaring that "the lesson.. is that a true local-patriotic team can win a two-thirds victory [against Fidesz and Mi Hazánk] without the Gyurcsány party, which poisons local politics"...

https://hang.hu/belfold/budai-lorant-a-jaszberenyi-ketharmad-utan-ez-az-eredmeny-tulmutat-rajtunk-150873 #Jászberény

Budai backed the MSzP's Ottó Kertész over DK Deputy Mayor József Gedei, setting off a chain of events that ended with the DK helping Fidesz force these early elections.

The DK did not support Budai's re-election. He won anyway, with an increased majority.

#Hungary #Jászberény

Budai (who hails from #Jobbik) was originally elected amid great political drama in 2019 when he initially won by just 14 votes, only to score a clearer 63% to 35% victory a month later when Fidesz demanded a rerun.

But his broad Jobbik-DK-MSzP-Momentum alliance controlled just 7 seats against Fidesz's 7 and Our Homeland's 1, and trouble soon broke out over the coalition's general election primary last year...

https://24.hu/belfold/2022/10/14/jaszbereny-ellenzek-fidesz-dk-feloszlatas-riport/

#Hungary #Jászberény

In #Hungary, voters in the town of #Jászberény dealt Fidesz a heavy defeat.

The edgily bearded incumbent mayor Lóránt Budai was re-elected with 67% of the vote, sweeping away the challenge by a Fidesz-endorsed independent — and the evenly divided council that had come to paralyze local governance is replaced with one where Budai's Together for Jászberény has 11 seats and Fidesz just 4.

Map: Választási földrajz FB page

https://www.valasztas.hu/helyi-onkormanyzati-valasztasok/jaszbereny-20230115

#ElectionMaps