May 11, 2009, 9:18 CET
Fidesz candidate elected mayor of Pécs, defeating Parliament Speaker Szili
Fidesz candidate Zsolt Páva was elected mayor of Pécs in Sunday's by-election, taking the traditionally Socialist town ahead of Socialist candidate Katalin Szili.
Páva received 36,570 votes, 65% of the total, while Szili received 18,981 votes, or 34.14%, according to preliminary results. Turnout was near 44% of the 127,198 eligible voters.
"The result is unequivocal and this must be acknowledged by everyone," Páva declared on Sunday evening. He said he will work for the city with all of his strength.
Páva, born in 1955, was deputy mayor of Pécs in 1990-94 and mayor in 1994-98. Since 2002 he has led the Fidesz group on Baranya county council. Páva is married with three children, speaks English fluently and has a basic knowledge of German.
The Socialist Party congratulated Páva on his victory and expressed thanks to those who had voted for Szili. Szili herself congratulated Páva by telephone. She said the citizens of Pécs have made their decision, which must be respected, adding that the city leadership will have to start work as soon as possible as it faces tough challenges.
The by-election was held because Socialist Mayor Péter Tasnádi died on January 27.
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Despite her lies and blatant cheating tactics,or perhaps because of these,they lost big style,good luck and good work to Pécs.
A mandate built on 29% of the total voters.
Sounds more like more people did not want to vote on any of the 2 candidates.
I thought Ricsi would win this, with the popular support he and his party has...to quote HotPaprika "more and more people discover the truth", not.
45% of voters voted of whom 66% chose Fidesz. What is your problem Viking ? The fact that 55% did not bother shows the truth that most people are now realising that current politics is a sham,but it is still great to see the commies/socialists get a kick up the ass.
By the way the Jobbik candidate in a strongly 'red' panel-ház district got almost 10% in that vote.
(It was not Ricsi,in case you wondered !)
fabian - Analysing does not equal to "having a problem with".
The interesting question is not the relative %, it is the real numbers, like
- how much did Fidesz gain in real numbers from previous elections?
Looking at the General Elections 2002 and 2006 one could see that Fidesz did not gain so much in real numbers, it was more that the previous MSZP-voters did not vote.
If this is the same thing here, the local chapter of MSZP will have a good chance to win the election in 2010, if the new Mayor do what new Mayors normally do:
- by new cars to the Govt (from his friend the Car Seller)
- renovates offices (his Building friends get the job)
- firing all top management, with good pay-offs and hiring the rest of his friends.
The thing here is that it is just 1 year to next election, so either he does these normal things and gives a lot of amo to MSZP in the next election, or he makes a lot of his "friends" disappointed and they will maybe want to be friend with some else...
One can question if the obvious absence of MSZP-voters was a rejection that a National politician candidate to become Mayor. How much time would she really give the local work?
Personally I would never vote for a candidate who would take a seat in the National Parliament also. I cannot think that they would do a good local work, regardless which Party we are speaking about. It is a total different thing to have MPs from your area, that must be a good thing, but as your Mayor?
Viking @ congratulations,you made a very rational comment!