Tamás Soproni
Mayor of Terézváros
District VI, Budapest
Assumed office
13 October 2019
Preceded byZsófia Hassay
Personal details
Born (1986-02-20) 20 February 1986
Budapest, Hungary
Political partyMomentum
Professionlinguist, translator, politician

Tamás István Soproni (born 20 February 1986) is a Hungarian linguist, translator and politician, who has been the Mayor of Terézváros (6th district of Budapest) since 2019. He is a member of the Momentum Movement.

Life

Soproni was born into a lower-middle-class family in Budapest on 20 February 1986. He lives in Terézváros since his childhood.[1] His father was a sexton.[2] He earned a degree of English studies at the School of English and American Studies of the Faculty of Humanities of the Eötvös Loránd University. He functioned as vice president for foreign affairs in the local student council.[3] He is working as a linguist and translator of literary works.

Political career

Soproni was a joint candidate of the Together, Dialogue for Hungary, Hungarian Socialist Party and Democratic Coalition for a representative seat in Terézváros during the 2014 local elections.[4] He gained 32 percent of the vote and was defeated by Viktor Lindmayer (Fidesz), who received 47%.[5]

Soproni is the founding member of the Momentum Movement, a centrist political association, then party. He was elected its first vice president in March 2017, when the party officially formed. He was responsible for coordination of the activists, also including the so-called NOlimpia campaign, a signature-collection campaign to stop Budapest's bid to host the 2024 Summer Olympics. His confrontational style during interviews at pro-government media portfolios raised his political awareness..[6] For instance, he interrupted the press conference of government spokesperson István Hollik, who described the Momentum's campaign as part of the work of "Soros network".[7]

News portal Index.hu reported existence of a continuous rivalry behind the scenes for leadership position between Soproni and president of the Momentum, András Fekete-Győr in January 2018.[8] Soproni was charged campaign manager and appeared on third place in the national list of the Momentum Movement, but the party failed to reach the 5% threshold and did not get any seats in the National Assembly during the April 2018 parliamentary election.[9] As a result, the entire presidium, including Soproni resigned.[10] On 9 April 2019, the opposition parties Momentum, Democratic Coalition, Hungarian Socialist Party, Dialogue for Hungary and Politics Can Be Different concluded an electoral alliance for the upcoming 2019 local elections. Accordingly, Tamás Soproni became the five parties' candidate for the position of Mayor of Terézváros. Soproni campaigned for cleanliness of public spaces, increase the size of green space, redevelopment of district parking and the regulation of party tourism in the district.[1] Soproni defeated incumbent mayor Zsófia Hassay (Fidesz) in the election, obtaining 57.49 percent of the vote.[11]

References

  1. 1 2 "Soproni Tamás polgármesteri honlapja". sopronitamas.hu (in Hungarian). Retrieved 2019-07-09.
  2. ↑ ""Hirtelen találtam egy közösséget" - teltházas bemutatkozót tartott a Momentum". Szeretlek Magyarország (in Hungarian). 22 January 2017. Retrieved 2018-02-16.
  3. ↑ "Erasmus támogatások". elteonline.hu (in Hungarian). 11 May 2014. Retrieved 2019-07-09.
  4. ↑ "Soproni Tamás István – Jelölések adatai". National Election Committee (in Hungarian). Retrieved 2018-02-16.
  5. ↑ "Budapest VI. kerület 07. számú egyéni választókerületi önkormányzati képviselő választás eredménye". National Election Committee (in Hungarian). Retrieved 2018-02-16.
  6. ↑ "Az Echo TV behívta a Momentum vezetőjét, ám felsült a mészáros-munka" (in Hungarian). hvg.hu. 2018-01-15. Retrieved 2019-07-09.
  7. ↑ "Lerohanta a Momentum a KDNP sorosozós sajtótájékoztatóját – videó" (in Hungarian). hvg.hu. 2018-01-15. Retrieved 2019-07-09.
  8. ↑ "Tomi fő politikai célja, hogy legyőzze Andrist". Index.hu (in Hungarian). 17 January 2018. Retrieved 2018-02-16.
  9. ↑ "Nem lesz kormányfőjelöltje a Momentumnak" (in Hungarian). Index.hu. 2018-01-15. Retrieved 2018-01-15.
  10. ↑ "Lemondott a Momentum elnöksége". Alfahír. 2018-05-01. Retrieved 2019-07-09.
  11. ↑ Helyi önkormányzati választások 2019 - Budapest VI. kerület
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