Péter Márki-Zay is a Hungarian politician, marketer, economist and electrical engineer. He is the mayor of Hódmezővásárhely since 2018, as well as the cofounder of the Everybody's Hungary Movement.
Political career
In 2018, Márki-Zay announced that he would be running as an independent candidate in the Hódmezővásárhely mayoral by-election. His candidacy was initially supported by three opposition parties, including the Hungarian Socialist Party, Politics Can Be Different and Jobbik, with Momentum and the Democratic Coalition endorsing him a few days later. Márki-Zay has said that he did not sympathise with the views of any of the parties supporting him, describing himself as a right-wing Christian, and a disappointedFideszvoter. Despite the historically unprecedented unity of the opposition parties backing him, his candidacy was initially seen as a long-shot by many observers, owing to Fidesz's popularity in the city, as well as Márki-Zay's political inexperience. On 25 February 2018, he defeated Zoltán Hegedűs by votes to, becoming the city's first non-Fidesz mayor since 1990. He assumed office on 3 March, with Andrea Kis from the Hungarian Socialist Party as his deputy mayor. Following his success, Márki-Zay has continued to advocate for a nationwide unity between opposition parties. In 2018, he founded the non-partisan Everybody's Hungary Movement in order to further cooperation between opposition parties, and to support representative democracy. During his first term as a mayor, Márki-Zay has vowed to fight for transparency. He revealed that the city was in a much worse financial situation than previously reported. He also made the donations to the city's sports clubspublic and revealed that the city's previous leadership regularly failed to pay overtime to their workers. However, his time was not without controversy. He was fined for libel on multiple occasions and ordered to remove a "migrant counter" he placed inside the city hall. In 2019, Márki-Zay ran for reelection, this time under the banner of MMM, as well as the Organisation for a Clean Vásárhely. His candidacy was once again supported by all major opposition parties. He defeated the Fidesz-backed independent candidate István Grezsa by votes to, earning him a second term as the city's mayor.
Personal life
Márki-Zay is married to Felícia Vincze, a midwife and physicist. They have seven children. Márki-Zay is a Roman Catholic.
