Hungarian opposition candidate: Marquee-J expected to face Orban

The Hungarian opposition has chosen a joint candidate for the spring parliamentary election: Peter Marki-J. He is a political outsider and conservative – and that could make Prime Minister Orban dangerous.

Conservative and non-party outsider Peter Marki-Jay is expected to challenge right-wing national Prime Minister Viktor Orbán as the opposition candidate in Hungary’s parliamentary elections in spring 2022. The 49-year-old was clearly ahead, according to the results of partial counting since Sunday evening in a primary organized by the opposition.

This is the first time such a code has come up in Hungary. The six opposition parties already divided – from left-green to right-wing conservatives – are set to back the winner in the election campaign against Orban. After more than half of the votes were counted, Marquee-J got 59.1 percent of the vote and her rival Klara Dobrev got 40.9 percent of the vote from the Social Democratic Party DK, as announced by the pre-election commission. Dobrev has already congratulated and promised to support him with all his might in the parliamentary election campaign.

Orban’s joint opposition

This is the first time since 2010 that 58-year-old Orban has faced a united opposition in the ballot box. According to surveys, the two camps are virtually identical. Marquee-J has announced that if he wins, he will repeal the controversial Orban’s laws and introduce the euro in Hungary. Experts consider Markie-Jay a tough opponent for Orban, as the devout father of seven may also address conservative voters in next year’s vote.

Marquee-Jay studied economics, electrical engineering, and history. From 2004 to 2009, he lived with his family in Canada and the US. He entered politics only in 2018. At that time he won – surprisingly – the election of the mayor in Hodmezovasareli. Until then, this place was considered an impregnable stronghold of the Orban party Fadez.

Participation reached a record high in the second round of the primary election: 662,016 voters cast their vote within six days until Saturday evening. 633,811 citizens took part in the first round at the end of September. This value has already exceeded the expectations of the organizers. There were five top candidates to choose from at the time. In the first round, citizens also voted on the respective general direct candidates for parliament in 94 of the 106 constituencies.