Opposition DK backs journalist Olga Kálmán as Budapest mayor candidate

Journalist and television personality Olga Kálmán has announced her bid to become Budapest mayor in the upcoming local election as an independent candidate with support from leftist Democratic Coalition (DK).

Kálmán and DK MEP-elect Klára Dobrev announced Kálmán’s candidacy at a press conference on Thursday. Dobrev said they had already notified Socialist-Párbeszéd candidate Gergely Karácsony, to whom DK had earlier pledged support.

Answering a question, Dobrev said that DK’s agreement with Karácsony had ensured DK’s support for the first round of the pre-election of opposition candidates. All parties would want “a really exciting political debate,” she said, adding that the decision would not affect DK’s agreements with other opposition parties at district level.

She also confirmed that DK would back the winner of the second round of the pre-election, in the autumn elections.

Dobrev said that the candidate had shown herself to be an “ardent and uncompromising opponent of (PM) Viktor Orbán’s regime” as well as of the incumbent mayor, István Tarlós, who “unconditionally serves the prime minister in every way”. Kálmán will “unite rather than divide” Budapest residents that want change. Kálmán is “not a political party member nor has she ever been,” Dobrev added.

Should she be elected mayor, Kálmán would “make the atmosphere in Budapest freer” and fight against “shady deals”, Dobrev said.