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Tarlós run for re-election in 2019

Budapest Mayor István Tarlós has accepted Prime Minister Viktor Orbán’s nomination to run for a third consecutive term in next year’s local government elections.

Orbán announced at City Hall after meeting Tarlós that he had asked the incumbent mayor to run for re-election. The prime minister said he would co-head a new Budapest development council alongside Tarlós. Tarlós said he had accepted the nomination after “a serious internal struggle” and with “significant conditions”, including his insistence on holding a direct mayoral election and the establishment of the Budapest municipal development council. Several of the new investment projects in the capital will run until 2030, he said. Tarlós and Orbán also came to an agreement on central financing for the renovation of metro 3. Orbán listed completed investments worth 280 billion forints (EUR 861.2m), such as the refurbishment of the City Park ice rink and the National Horse Stables, the upgrade of the Dagály baths and the revamp of the Music Academy among others. Projects under way amounting to 600 billion forints include the Buda Castle, restoration of the Fiumei Road and Jewish Salgótarjáni Street cemeteries, renovation of the Opera House and construction of a new athletic stadium.