The green-liberal mayor of Budapest, Gergely Karacsony, has said that he sees himself as the most likely challenger to Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban in the Hungarian parliamentary elections due in spring 2022.
"I will win the opposition primary because I am the most suitable to build a bridge from the opposition voters to the still undecided voters," he told a group of foreign journalists in Budapest on Thursday.
The Budapest city hall leader is due to face a primary election on Saturday against four other candidates from different opposition parties.
The joint opposition candidate for the parliamentary election is to be determined by two rounds of voting that are due to end on October 10.
The winner is then expected to challenge Orban, who has been in power for almost 12 years. Critics, including various EU bodies, accuse Orban of dismantling democracy in Hungary during that time, as well as of disregarding the rule of law and pervasive corruption.
In opinion polls, Orban's Fidesz party and the united opposition are currently neck and neck.
Karacsony, who has already announced his intention to run in May, is considered the most likely to be selected to lead the opposition into the election.
The opposition alliance consists of six parties of both the left and right who are united in their determination to unseat Orban. The alliance wants to put up a single leader as its candidate in the 2022 elections to avoid splitting the anti-Orban vote.
