Hungary’s ultra-conservative prime minister, Viktor Orbán, has preserved his two-thirds super majority in the country’s parliamentary elections. Orbán faced a coalition of six major opposition parties, who made the historic decision to run together under the United for Hungary coalition.
Participating parties spanned the political spectrum, including the green LMP (Magyarország Zöld Pártja), the social-democratic MZSP (Magyar Szocialista Párt) and DK (Demokratikus Koalíció), the liberal Momentum, and the far right Jobbik party. The results of the election serve as a lesson on why opposition parties need to be careful about who they partner with to topple a leader like Orbán.
This coalition of strange bedfellows was led by Péter Márki-Zay, a Christian conservative independent politician who, in 2018, became the mayor of the town of Hódmezővásárhely after receiving the support of a similar coalition.
