Had he kept his promise, Demszky would have stepped down in 2002 at the height of his career, HVG writes in an analysis of the mayor’s 20 year-term.

Following the next four years, after the parliamentary election victory of the Socialist-Free Democrats in 2002, Demszky concerned himself with ambitious plans, as he sought to build a bridge at Aquincum in the Third District, a sewage purification plant in the Fourth District and a fourth metro line.

Demszky paid a heavy price in those four years, HVG writes, as fiascos in the bridge and metro projects and allegations regarding his summer house in Croatia dented his credibility as a politician.

Nevertheless, he held on and achieved his fifth election victory in 2006. However, he was compelled to serve out his last term mostly deprived of real power, as he lacked a majority on city council.

Demszky will now leave City Hall in early October as one of Hungary’s least popular politicians of the past 20 years. "

Source: Hungary Around the Clock.

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