Borkai announces his resignation

As the Mayor of Győr resigns in the wake of his taped debauchery scandal, a pro-government commentator suggests that he should have been forced to do so before the elections, while a liberal pundit warns the new left-wing capital city leaders that the opposition press will not be lenient with them.

In Magyar Nemzet, Áron Nagy accuses Borkai of having condemned excellent Fidesz mayors in several cities to defeat at the municipal elections on October 13. When the sex party video showing him in paid female company first surfaced, he writes, Borkai should have resigned immediately. Nagy warns Fidesz to dismiss without delay anyone shamed in similar cases in the future. On the other hand, he wonders when  the left-liberal mayor of Budaörs or the left-wing 19th district council member will resign, on account of a sex video and a bribery scandal respectively (See e.g. Budapest, October 14).

On hvg.hu, Sándor Révész promises that the liberal press will scrutinize and criticize the newly elected opposition-led city and district mayors. Such ‘friendly fire’, the liberal commentator writes, has already begun with press reports preventing the new Socialist mayor of Budapest’s 14^th district from assuring himself a freer hand in selling Council property. Leaders, he argues, shouldn’t imagine that such criticism plays into the hands of the government. On the contrary, Révész suggests, Fidesz can only be defeated at the parliamentary elections in 2002 if the opposition can prove that it follows higher standards.

Tags: corruption, elections, Fidesz, Left