Opposition primary

In December 2018, the Hungarian Socialist Party reached an agreement with independent candidate Róbert Puzsér about a two-round primary. According to that, there would be a first round (in February), where the socialists and their allies would participate, and a second round (in June) where the "candidate of the centre" would join them.^[4]

The first round was conducted between 28 January and 3 February. Two candidates participated: Csaba Horváth (MSZP group leader in the General Assembly) and Gergely Karácsony (Dialogue, mayor of Zugló).

After the first round, a second round between Karácsony and Puzsér was planned in July. Opposition parties Politics Can Be Different and Jobbik endorsed Puzsér, with the condition that he takes part in the primary. Multiple forums and debates were held between the two, but on 8 April Puzsér announced he would not take part, citing a recent agreement about district mayoral candidates which did not include the parties supporting him.

The European Parliament election caused a major change in the balance of power, as the Socialists-Dialogue alliance gained only 6% of the votes, with the Democratic Coalition taking 16% and new party Momentum (M) taking almost 10%. This prompted Momentum to announce their candidate, entrepreneur Gábor Kerpel-Fronius (hu) on 3 June,^[6] followed by the Democratic Coalition on 6 June, their candidate being television host Olga Kálmán.^[7]

The second round was conducted between 20 and 26 June with online and in-person voting. On 23 June a televised debate was held between the three candidates on the channel ATV.^[8]

According to the organizers' self-imposed criteria, the primary was valid, as more than 50 000 valid votes were cast.