Szentkirályi, the candidate of the ruling Fidesz-Christian Democrats, announced her withdrawal on Facebook early on Friday morning.

She asked her supporters to vote for Vitézy as Budapest mayor and for the Fidesz-Christian Democrats list.

Vitézy, who has been put forward by green opposition party LMP and a local association, said “the first win is there the second will come on Sunday”.

He said on Facebook that when he embarked on his campaign he knew he would have to defeat the government policy associated with transport minister János Lázár, “which is stymieing all key developments”, as well as the “national political ambitions” of Gergely Karácsony, the incumbent, “who complains and procrastinates while doing nothing”.

He said that as mayor he would not form a coalition with either Fidesz or the leftist Democratic Coalition.

Budapest and the capital’s companies would be “run by professionals rather than failed party cliques”.

“Gyurcsány’s people are off, but Orbán’s people can’t take their place either,” he said, referring to the former Socialist prime minister who leads the Democratic Coalition and the current premier, respectively.

Reacting, Karácsony said on Facebook: “So the charade is over.”

He insisted that Szentkirályi’s withdrawal was part of a “dark and cynical political deal” and that Vitézy was “Fidesz’s candidate”.

He called the “deal” a “betrayal” of voters.

“Fidesz has betrayed its voters just as it has betrayed Budapest over the last five years,” he added

Orbán: Sunday's EP Vote 'Chance to Stop War'

Whereas hope of bringing an end to the war in Ukraine appears to be fading every day, "we still have a chance to vote in the European Parliament elections and stop it", Prime Minister Viktor Orbán said on Friday in an interview to public radio.

There are points in history before every war when the clock cannot be turned back, Orbán said, adding that “we are very close to that point”.

The prime minister said that France was handing over fighter planes to Ukraine and Russia had stated their ability to deliver weapons to any US enemy, which, he said, were “no longer simply statements but actions”.

Russian ships were on their way to Cuba and Russia was engaged in conflicts in Africa, “and everywhere circumstances are getting increasingly tense”, he added.

The war in Ukraine, he said, was turning from a regional conflict into a European and West-East standoff, “and regional wars usually develop into world wars”.

“We’ll have a chance to stop the war” in the EP elections, he said. “Then there’ll be a few difficult months until the American elections, during which we can survive”.

Orbán said that “when Donald Trump returns — and with a good European election behind us — we can form a pan-Western transatlantic peace coalition and stop the war,” he said.

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