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Local elections – Karácsony talks threats to his family, state of opposition in leaked audio
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A leaked audio recording has emerged in which opposition candidate Gergely Karácsony for Budapest mayor can be heard talking about threats made against his family and clashes he has had with other opposition politicians, according to news portal 444.hu. Karácsony has confirmed the authenticity of the recording.
In the audio file edited together from separate recordings from a past conversation, Karácsony is heard saying that Csaba Tóth, head of the Socialist Party’s 14th district chapter, had made multiple threats against his family.
Karácsony calls the Socialists’ Csaba Horváth, whom he defeated for the joint opposition mayoral candidacy and is now the opposition mayoral candidate in the 14th district, a “tough one to crack”.
“Unfortunately he’s a rock in this whole construct, more so than anyone else,” Karacsony says of Horváth. “The whole matter of removing him from this thing and convincing him to take part in the primary, that was the consolation.”
Concerning the 14th district local council, Karácsony said only a Socialist politician could keep the Socialist councillors in line. He criticised the party’s previous mayoral candidate there, saying “he would be lost within two minutes and everything would be stolen behind his back”. “At least Csaba [Horváth] has enough brains to know what it is you can go to jail for,” Karácsony can be heard saying.
On the subject of his future, Karácsony says that if he returned to the 14th district, “they’d do me in . I could tell you some stories, but we can’t run joint campaigns with the Socialists”.
He is also heard discussing his “blackmail potential”, saying it could “put everything into place”.
Karácsony also talks about Erzsébet Gy. Németh, the Democratic Coalition’s mayoral candidate in the 17th district, saying that “there’s no threat of her . winning the election.”
Asked by 444 to comment on the recording, Karácsony said the conversation in question had probably taken place “several months ago” and he did not remember who he was talking to. He added, however, that he recognised tactic of leaking the recording as “that of [ruling] Fidesz”.