2019 Hungarian local elections

Local elections were held in Hungary on 13 October 2019.^[1] Mayors and assembly members were elected for a term of 5 years.

Electoral system

Main article: Electoral system of Hungary

• Mayors of towns, cities, the districts of Budapest and Budapest itself are directly elected in a one-round, first-past-the-post election.
• Assembly members of cities (at least 10 000 inhabitants) are elected via a mixed single vote system, mostly in electoral neighbourhoods with first-past-the-post, with a smaller number of seats being distributed as "compensation" mandates between lists of losing candidates.
• Assembly members of towns (below 10 000 inhabitants) are elected with a plurality-at-large voting, where the voter can vote for as many candidates as there are seats.
• Members of county assemblies are elected with party-list proportional representation using the D'Hondt method.

Budapest

Mayor

Main article: 2019 Budapest mayoral election

Gergely Karácsony was elected mayor, defeating incumbent István Tarlós who had been in office since 2010.

Assembly

Main article: 2019 Budapest Assembly election

The General Assembly of Budapest consists of the directly elected mayor, the mayors of the districts, and 9 members from party electoral lists.

The opposition bloc (Momentum–DK–MSZP–Dialogue–LMP) won a majority of 18 seats, with Fidesz–KDNP winning 13, and 2 seats going to independent politicians. This will be the first time Fidesz will not hold a majority in the assembly in over 15 years.

County assemblies

Parties running in the county assembly elections are subject to a 5% threshold. An asterisk indicates a party with an absolute majority. The Fidesz–KDNP coalition won a majority in all assemblies holding elections.

Election results (%)

County Council								Number of electors	Turnout
	Fidesz-KDNP	DK	MSZP	Jobbik	Momentum	MH	Other
Budapest[2] (District mayors)	44.86	51.11				0.42	3.61	1,367,945	47.97%
Baranya[3]	57.00	12.38	8.34	9.23	8.85	4.20		189,936	53.31%
Bács-Kiskun[4]	60.42	9.61	4.51	9.59	10.39	5.48		335,417	44.54%
Békés[5]	53.11	10.71	7.76	14.36	8.02	6.04		237,587	47.11%
Borsod-Abaúj-Zemplén[6]	58.79	12.39	28.83			—		403,639	53.61%
Csongrád[7]	54.04	8.22	10.61	10.00	8.07	9.06		165,975	48.23%
Fejér[8]	57.88	11.87	4.50	—	11.72	6.76	7.27	229,115	47.41%
Győr-Moson-Sopron[9]	62.16	10.60	4.56	10.78	11.89	—		221,113	49.55%
Hajdú-Bihar[10]	60.11	9.58	5.45	11.41	8.68	4.77		270,152	46.04%
Heves[11]	60.43	39.57				—		200,445	52.25%
Jász-Nagykun-Szolnok[12]	53.84	8.90	5.92	15.73	8.14	5.83	1.64 (Munkáspárt)	248,492	44.69%
Komárom-Esztergom[13]	57.22	42.78				—		194,190	44.72%
Nógrád[14]	58.22	10.35	6.70	10.19	6.85	5.47	2.21 (Munkáspárt)	129,674	53.61%
Pest[15]	51.60	14.90	4.63	9.25	19.62	—		980,496	45.29%
Somogy[16]	52.93	8.98	3.80	11.74	6.56	—	15.99 (Somogyért)	207,422	52.03%
Szabolcs-Szatmár-Bereg[17]	64.93	6.82	7.74	11.57		3.44	5.50	356,764	54.81%
Tolna[18]	58.48	11.01	6.99	10.14	8.20	5.18		157,375	49.79%
Vas[19]	61.58	7.33	6.92	9.99	7.51	—	6.68	145,916	55.30%
Veszprém[20]	54.01	10.12	9.34	12.18	9.22	5.13		241,711	49.24%
Zala[21]	61.34	10.25	4.26	10.56	8.39	5.21		144,926	52.37%

Distribution of seats

County Council								Number of seats
	Fidesz-KDNP	DK	MSZP	Jobbik	Momentum	MH	Other
Budapest[22] (District mayors)	13	18				0	2	33
Baranya[3]	12	2	1	2	1	0	—	18
Bács-Kiskun[4]	16	2	0	2	2	1	—	23
Békés[5]	10	2	1	2	1	1	—	17
Borsod-Abaúj-Zemplén[6]	18	3	8			—	—	29
Csongrád[7]	12	1	2	2	1	2	—	20
Fejér[8]	14	2	0	0	2	1	1	20
Győr-Moson-Sopron[9]	15	2	0	2	2	—	—	21
Hajdú-Bihar[10]	16	2	1	3	2	0	—	24
Heves[11]	9	6				—	—	15
Jász-Nagykun-Szolnok[12]	11	1	1	3	1	1	0	18
Komárom-Esztergom[13]	9	6				—	—	15
Nógrád[14]	10	1	1	1	1	1	0	15
Pest[15]	24	7	0	4	9	—	—	44
Somogy[16]	9	1	0	2	1	—	2	15
Szabolcs-Szatmár-Bereg[17]	18	1	2	3		0	1	25
Tolna[18]	10	2	1	1	1	0	—	15
Vas[19]	11	1	1	1	1	—	0	15
Veszprém[20]	10	2	1	2	1	1	—	17
Zala[21]	11	1	0	2	1	0	—	15
Hungary	245	36	18	40	29	8	4	381

Major cities

Cities with county rights

Mayoral elections in cities with county rights, 2019

City	Mayor before			Elected Mayor
	name	party		name	party
Békéscsaba	Péter Szarvas		Independent	Péter Szarvas		Independent[a] (Hajrá Békéscsaba)
Debrecen	László Papp		Fidesz-KDNP	László Papp		Fidesz-KDNP
Dunaújváros	Gábor Cserna		Fidesz-KDNP	Tamás Pintér		Jobbik[b] (Rajta Újváros! Egyesület)
Eger	László Habis		Fidesz-KDNP	Ádám Mirkóczki		Jobbik[c] (Egységben a Városért Egyesület)
Érd	András T. Mészáros		Fidesz-KDNP	László Csőzik		LMP-Jobbik-DK-MSZP-CÉL-Momentum-MMM-Dialogue-MLP[26]
Győr	Zsolt Borkai		Fidesz-KDNP	Zsolt Borkai[d]		Fidesz-KDNP
Hódmezővásárhely	Péter Márki-Zay[e]		Independent	Péter Márki-Zay		Independent[f] (Mindenki Magyarországa-Tiszta Vásárhelyért Egyesület)
Kaposvár	Károly Szita		Fidesz-KDNP	Károly Szita		Fidesz-KDNP
Kecskemét	Klaudia Szemereyné Pataki		Fidesz-KDNP	Klaudia Szemereyné Pataki		Fidesz-KDNP
Miskolc	Ákos Kriza		Fidesz-KDNP	Pál Veres		Independent[g] (Függetlenek SZIVE)
Nagykanizsa	Sándor Dénes		Fidesz-KDNP	László Balogh		Fidesz-KDNP
Nyíregyháza	Ferenc Kovács		Fidesz-KDNP	Ferenc Kovács		Fidesz-KDNP
Pécs	Zsolt Páva		Fidesz-KDNP	Attila Péterffy		Independent[h] (Mindenki Pécsért Egyesület)
Salgótarján	Zsolt Fekete[i]		MSZP-DK-TVE-ST	Zsolt Fekete		SSZE-DK-Jobbik-LMP-Momentum-MSZP-Párbeszéd-TVE
Sopron	Tamás Fodor		Fidesz-KDNP	Ciprián Farkas		Fidesz-KDNP
Szeged	László Botka		MSZP-DK-PM	László Botka		MSZP[j] (Összefogás Szegedért Egyesület)
Székesfehérvár	András Cser-Palkovics		Fidesz	András Cser-Palkovics		Fidesz
Szekszárd	Rezső Ács		Fidesz-KDNP	Rezső Ács		Fidesz-KDNP
Szolnok	Ferenc Szalay		Fidesz-KDNP	Ferenc Szalay		Fidesz-KDNP
Szombathely	Tivadar Puskás		Fidesz-KDNP	András Nemény		ÉSz-Momentum-DK-MSZP-Dialogue-LMP-MKKP-Szolidaritás-MMM
Tatabánya	Csaba Schmidt		Fidesz-KDNP	Ilona Szücsné Posztovics		DK-Jobbik-LMP-MSZP-Momentum-Dialogue
Veszprém	Gyula Porga		Fidesz-KDNP	Gyula Porga		Fidesz-KDNP
Zalaegerszeg	Zoltán Balaicz		Fidesz-KDNP	Zoltán Balaicz		Fidesz-KDNP

Italics denote a mayor not running for reelection

In the 23 cities, 13 government-aligned or government-supported candidates won, with 10 going to opposition or opposition supported mayors. This is a sharp improvement for the opposition as they previously only occupied 3 of these mayorships.^[29]

In most of the cities, the assembly majority is composed of members aligned with the mayor, except:^[30]

• Nagykanizsa, with a Fidesz-KDNP mayor, and opposition majority
• Szekszárd, with a Fidesz-KDNP mayor, and opposition majority
• Szolnok, with a Fidesz-KDNP mayor, and opposition majority
• Tatabánya, with an opposition mayor, and no clear majority

In Békéscsaba, the mayor's civil organization together with Fidesz-KDNP members have a majority.

Detailed results

City	Fidesz-KDNP		Opposition		Others (only listed if >5%)
Békéscsaba[31]	none		Tibor Dancsó (DK)	2 013 9.80%	Péter Szarvas (Independent)[a]	16 211 78.92%	Attila Miklós (MSZP)	1 788 8.70%
Debrecen[32]	László Papp	35 029 61.77%	Zoltán Varga (DK)	12 215 21.54%	Csanád Ábel Kőszeghy (Jobbik)	6 841 12.06%
Dunaújváros[32]	Gábor Cserna	7 397 41.04%	Tamás Pintér (Jobbik)[b]	10 159 56.36%
Eger[33]	László Habis	9 049 43.77%	Ádám Mirkóczki (Jobbik)[c]	9 842 47.60%	Alfréd Pócs (Independent)	1 189 5.75%
Érd[34]	András T. Mészáros	10 020 40.61%	László Csőzik (Independent)	12 288 49.80%	Norbert Tekauer (Independent)	2 366 9.59%
Győr[35]	Zsolt Borkai	19 312 44.33%	Tímea Glázer (DK)	18 671 42.86%	László Kovács (Independent)	3 677 8.44%
Hódmezővásárhely[36]	none		Péter Márki-Zay (Independent)[f]	13 478 57.30%	István Grezsa (Independent, nominated by Fidesz-KDNP)	10 042 42.70%
Kaposvár[37]	Károly Szita	12 876 56.43%	Ákos Ervin Horváth (Independent)	8 841 38.75%
Kecskemét[38]	Klaudia Szemereyné Pataki	16 279 50.21%	Zoltán Lejer (Independent)	12 015 37.05%	Gábor Imre Hegedüs (Independent)	2 755 8.50%
Miskolc[39]	Zoltán Alakszai	26 177 40.83%	Pál Veres (Independent)[g]	35 135 54.80%
Nagykanizsa[40]	László Balogh	7 189 49.30%	Tibor Hári (Independent)	6 695 45.91%
Nyíregyháza[41]	Ferenc Kovács	20 351 52.84%	András Jeszenszki (MSZP)	18 167 47.16%
Pécs[42]	Attila Vári	21 319 41.02%	Attila Péterffy (Independent)[h]	27 622 53.15%
Salgótarján[43]	Csaba Szabó	5 744 42.86%	Zsolt Fekete (MSZP)	7 271 54.25%
Sopron[44]	Ciprián Farkas	12 328 56.68%	Norbert Varga (Independent)	8 355 38.42%
Szeged[45]	none		László Botka (MSZP)[j]	40 858 60.56%	Pál Nemesi (Independent, nominated by Fidesz-KDNP)	24 568 36.41%
Székesfehérvár[46]	András Cser-Palkovics	22 882 60.84%	Roland Márton (MSZP)	12 580 33.45%
Szekszárd[47]	Rezső Ács	6 353 49.77%	Gábor László Bomba (Independent)	6 055 47.43%
Szolnok[48]	Ferenc Szalay	11 616 47.80%	Zoltán Radócz (MSZP)	11 364 46.77%
Szombathely[49]	Péter Balázsy	16 363 47.66%	András Nemény (MSZP)	16 762 48.82%
Tatabánya[47]	Csaba Schmidt	9 863 46.40%	Ilona Szücsné Posztovics (DK)	10 454 49.18%
Veszprém[50]	Gyula Porga	11 117 55.02%	Sándor Katanics (MSZP)	9 088 44.98%
Zalaegerszeg[51]	Zoltán Balaicz	14 302 69.69%	Csaba Keresztes (DK)	4 640 22.61%

Italics means incumbent, bold means winner of the election.

Results

In several major cities and districts of Budapest, the opposition took part in the election with joint candidates as some surveys said there were possibilities to gain a majority in local municipalities with a joint list.^[52]

Opposition parties achieved better results as compared to the 2014 Hungarian local elections. This was the first set of local elections with a joint list of opposition parties.^[53]

Notes

1. Supported by Fidesz-KDNP.^[23]
2. Member of Jobbik, running as an independent. Supported by Opposition coalition: Jobbik–DK–Dialogue–LMP–MSZP-Momentum^[24]
3. Member of Jobbik, running as an independent. Supported by Opposition coalition: Jobbik–DK–MSZP-Dialogue–LMP–Momentum^[25]
4. left Fidesz two days later; resigned on November 8
5. Elected in a by-election in 2018
6. Supported by Opposition coalition
7. Supported by Opposition coalition: MSZP-Momentum-Dialogue-Jobbik-LMP-DK-Mindenki Magyarországa-Velünk a Város^[27]
8. Supported by Opposition coalition
9. Elected in a by-election in 2016
10. Member of the Hungarian Socialist Party, running as an independent. Supported by Opposition coalition: MSZP–Momentum-DK–Jobbik–LMP^[28]