With the position created for Ambrus Kiss, mayor Gergely Karácsony made a gesture that removed his former deputy from the “chess board”, who can exercise his previous powers from a new position, while Karácsony left the post of deputy mayor vacant – he analyzed the political stalemate in the capital for hirado.hu Zoltán Kiszelly. The political scientist compared the game of Gergely Karácsony, Péter Magyar and Dávid Vitézy to the board game called Morocco.
Chaos is complete in Budapest: just a few days before the inaugural session of the Capital Assembly on Friday, it became clear that the time that had passed since the municipal elections on June 9 was not enough for the opposition parties to come to an agreement.
Hirado.hu also reported on Mayor Gergely Karácsony’s announcement on Tuesday that he will not make a proposal for the Deputy Mayor at the inaugural session of the Metropolitan Assembly, and that he will appoint Kiss Ambrus, who held the position during the five-year term, as the Director General of the Metropolitan Municipality, within which Kiss Ambrus will perform the same tasks. he provides, as before as deputy mayor.
Chaos continues in Budapest – Karácsony created a new position for his former deputy, Kiss Ambrus
The mayor will not make a proposal for a deputy mayor at the opening session of the Metropolitan Assembly on Friday.
Regarding the background of the announcement, Zoltán Kiszelly explained to our paper: with this decision, the mayor essentially made a gesture by which he removed Kiss Ambrus from the “chess board”, who can exercise his previous powers from a new position, while Karácsony left the post of deputy mayor vacant. According to him, this fits into the “game” that we can witness at the City Hall, which is about, among other things, that Gergely Karácsony would retain his current powers, and therefore he would need a deputy who would strengthen him in this. Another political goal may be that the mayor can use this decision to designate his position vis-à-vis the other parties. Zoltán Kiszelly put it this way:
Gergely Karácsony aims to define himself against the DK, i.e. the “old opposition” and the Tisza Párt, i.e. the “new opposition”.
In other words, he wants to get rid of the influence of the Gyurcsány party so that he does not subordinate himself to Péter Magyar’s party. At the same time, the mayor is not alone in shaping the outcome of the game, so the appointment of Ambrus Kiss was not made in a space independent of the other leading political forces.
Zoltán Kiszelly, director of the Political Analysis Center of the Századvég Public Life Knowledge Center Foundation (Photo: hirado.hu/Gyula Péter Horváth)
To describe this situation, Zoltán Kiszelly compared the capital strategy of the three leading opposition politicians – Gergely Karácsony, Dávid Vitézy and Péter Magyar – to the rules of the Morocco board game. In other words, the essence of the struggle to influence the City Hall,
that the parties are waiting for the other to take action so that conditions can be set in relation to it.
Alexandra Szentkirályi: We support neither traitors nor Ferenc Gyurcsány’s cadres
This morning it was confirmed what we have been saying for a long time, that the rainbow coalition has collapsed and that the candidacy of Dávid Vitézy for deputy mayor is being prepared, and the mayor himself has already confirmed this – Alexandra Karácsony Gergely Szentkirályi responded to the morning interview with hirado.hu.
This is the explanation of why no one nominates a deputy mayor, since until then there is no need to deal with obtaining a majority or making an offer, as Gergely Karácsony is doing. Dávid Vitézy – who does not want a position of deputy mayor without powers – is waiting for Péter Magyar to intervene, while the Tisza Party wants to achieve an amendment to the rules of procedure, and also that all powers should not be concentrated in the mayor, but that the representatives should have a say and also to the deputy.
Karácsony’s move is therefore about the appointment of Ambrus Kiss, so that he can tell DK that he has kept their man, while he hopes to provide a vacated place for the new ones.
The question arises; what role does the Magyar Kétfarú Kutya Párt (MKKP), which Gergely Karácsony recently called the most responsible party, play in all this? According to Zoltán Kiszelly, MKKP’s goal is to participate in the majority, but the party remains visible and does not merge into the bloc, because then it behaves like previous small parties on the “dollar left”. In addition, their voters could easily vote for the Tisza Party, so they could take on a kind of “king-making” role, according to the expert. The question arises as to what is at stake for the Tisza Party, which has existed for barely half a year. According to Zoltán Kiszelly:
For Péter Magyar’s party, this situation is about demonstrating the ability to govern and creating a majority.
Here, the Tisza Party has to prove that it can act as a powerful political force, whose policy is not limited to creating scandals and making noise.
Chaos is complete in Budapest – Karácsony does not nominate a deputy, Vitézy and Magyar accuse the mayor of lying
Chaos is complete in Budapest: Gergely Karácsony gave an interview to Telex on Monday morning, from which it was revealed that the negotiations between the opposition parties have failed completely, so it is questionable how the capital will be able to function.
Last, but not least, the question of how this game affects the functioning of the general assembly, the appointment of deputies or its postponement, and what relationship does it have with the adoption of the budget and the dissolution of the general assembly? According to Zoltán Kiszelly, the capital would continue to function in this case, since according to him, if a new budget is not adopted, then the adopted one will remain valid until then, so public transport or garbage collection will not be affected by the political debate surrounding the assembly. At the same time, the expert also said that if there is a deputy mayor and a majority, then there will also be a budget.
Featured image: General Deputy Mayor Ambrus Kiss (b) and Mayor Gergely Karácsony at the session of the Metropolitan Assembly at City Hall on December 14, 2022 (Photo: MTI/Attila Kovács)