Karácsony and Márki-Zay jointly announced on 1 October that they will continue the campaign together, one as prime minister and the other as deputy prime minister, but it will be later decided which of them will step back in favor of the other. They both thought they were better suited for the ultimate victory and trusted that they would succeed in convincing the other of this. On 3 October, Karácsony held a campaign event, where he stated "I can replace Viktor Orbán. Therefore, I do not step back, but forward" and called himself as a "common ground" within the opposition alliance. During an interview with Telex.hu in the same event, he also said he would step back at most if he was "hit by a tram". On the same day, Márki-Zay also organized a street rally, where he said that he believes he is the one who could address most people, but if Karácsony makes a vanity question out of the candidacy, he won't be involved in this "chicken game" and "he will pull the steering wheel aside". On the next day (4 October), Karácsonyi visited Márki-Zay at Hódmezővásárhely, where they confirmed their intention to run in the second round together and requested the National Primary Election Office (OEVB) for their names to appear next to each other and not below each other on the ballot paper. They added that they would establish a joint programme and would provide the mutual guarantee by maintaining the right of consent between the two actors (prime minister and deputy prime minister), i.e. deciding jointly on everything after formation of the government in 2022. The OEVB, however, did not allow their names to appear next to each other. György Magyar, the chairman of the Civil Election Commission stated that the appearance of a two-member candidate in the ballot paper would be surreal and the accepted election rules cannot be changed retrospectively. Klára Dobrev told that she felt the idea is a "confusing proposition". Márki-Zay blamed the "DK–Jobbik coalition" which did not allow to do that. He added "Dobrev's success is unquestionable, but the catastrophic results before 2010, which gave Fidesz two-thirds at the time, and the many billions the ruling party spent on negative campaigning against Gyurcsány, make Klára Dobrev the least potential candidate against Viktor Orbán".
