Left-wing candidate wins interim local election in Salgótarján

Budapest, February 28 (MTI) – A left-wing candidate has won the local election in the northern Hungarian town of Salgótarján, defeating the candidates of the ruling Fidesz party, the opposition Jobbik and the non-parliamentary Workers’ Party.

According to figures released by the election office late on Sunday, Zsolt Fekete, the candidate of the opposition Socialists, the Democratic Coalition, the Tarján City Residents’ Alliance and the European Left-wing, received 7,394 votes out of 14,209. The interim elections were prompted by the death of Socialist Mayor Ottó Dóra last November.

The election office said on Sunday night with a vote count at 95 percent that voter turnout was 45.97 percent. The runner-up was ruling Fidesz’s candidate with 7,394 votes, followed by Jobbik’s candidate with 882 and the Workers’ Party’s candidate with 247 votes.

Socialist leader József Tóbias said that the result gave hope to Hungarians who think Prime Minister Viktor Orbán should leave his post in order to have a “freer, safer and more liveable Hungary”. He expressed thanks to the city for “having the courage to say no to incitement to hatred and blackmail.”