Europe | The unexpected challenger

A small-town mayor takes on Hungary’s prime minister, Viktor Orban

Peter Marki-Zay has unexpectedly won the opposition primary

Victor v Viktor
|BERLIN

UNTIL A FEW weeks ago only political junkies knew who Peter Marki-Zay was. That changed with his unexpected victory on October 17th in the run-off of the first-ever primary for the Hungarian opposition. The 49-year-old mayor of Hodmezovasarhely, a smallish and almost unpronounceable town in south-eastern Hungary, was elected by supporters of six parties as their candidate to try to replace Viktor Orban, Hungary’s prime minister, at parliamentary elections next April.

This article appeared in the Europe section of the print edition under the headline “The unexpected challenger”

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