Budapest mayor candidate Dávid Vitézy said he will request that the ballots be recounted.
According to the website of the National Election Office, some 22,000 ballots were invalid, hindering both candidates from clinching a convincing majority, Vitézy said, adding that he had tried to discuss the issue with his main competitor, the incumbent Gergely Karácsony, but couldn’t reach him on the phone. With 99.26% of the vote counted, Vitézy had 47.49% of the vote, while Karácsony, the candidate of the Dialogue – Greens-Socialist-Democratic Coalition parties, had 47.52%. Vitézy said the results showed that Budapest had “a vibrant democracy”. He said that although who would end up being mayor was uncertain, the result “is a huge success for us … because it shows that it was worthwhile campaigning with programmes, a vision of Budapest and with issues impacting its inhabitants,” he said.