Dávid Vitézy, incumbent mayor Gergely Karácsony’s contender, said the recount of invalid votes cast in the Budapest mayoral election at the June 9 municipal elections was “meticulous” and “justified”.
In the local election, Karácsony garnered 371,466 votes and Dávid Vitézy 371,142. Vitézy appealed against the municipal election office’s results referring to a high number of invalid votes, and the election committee NVB ordered a recount. After the announcement of Karácsony’s winning the Budapest mayoral election, Vitézy thanked the election office for its work and congratulated the incumbent mayor on winning the ballot. However in a statement, Vitézy referred to “serious problems around counting votes” which he said “could even call for “a recount of valid votes not yet recounted”. Vitézy also responded to Karácsony’s calling for a new election in the whole of Budapest despite Friday’s recount turning out in his favour, with the mayor claiming that “the whole process has been infinitely manipulative, full of political misleading, tricks, and wire-tapping.” Vitézy said he was ready to face the challenge. He noted the appeal he had submitted against the result of the election in two districts led by the Democratic Coalition, claiming that voters had been deliberately misled in those districts. Vitézy said that whatever would be the outcome of the legal proceedings still pending, he would accept the final official binding results of the elections, once declared.