BUDAPEST — Hungarian multimedia tycoon Gyorgy Gattyan, who built his empire on the success of LiveJasmin, officially announced last week that he will run in the 2022 parliamentary elections with a new political party.
The 51-year-old Gattyan seeks to challenge Prime Minister Viktor Orban’s ruling Fidesz party outside of the main opposition coalition, who claim his attention-getting candidacy is a Machiavellian move functional to the current prime minister’s electoral strategy.
English-language news site Hungary Today described Gattyan as “Hungary’s third-richest person, who made his fortune in the porn industry,” with a net worth exceeding 800,000 million euros.
Last month, as XBIZ reported, Gattyan announced the formation of a new movement, which has now been rebranded into a proper political party called the Megoldás Mozgalom (Solution Movement) and entered into the 2022 parliamentary race.
Gattyan is campaigning on a platform promising “the digital transformation of Hungary’s healthcare, education and government,” Hungary Today reported.
After Gattyan’s November unofficial announcement, opposition-leaning commentators accused Gattyan of “playing into the hands of the government side” by dividing opposition voters.
Gergely Karacsony, the opposition mayor of Budapest and one of Orban’s chief critics, accused Gattyan’s campaign of being masterminded by the ruling party’s communication and campaigning chief, Antal Rogan.
According to Hungary Today, Gattyan replied that his wealth and status assure he “cannot be blackmailed or bribed.”