Nationalist Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban won a fourth term in office Sunday as his Fidesz party emerged triumphant, official figures showed, after a campaign overshadowed by the war in neighbouring Ukraine.
Addressing a jubilant crowd chanting his name, Orban said: "We have won a great victory, a victory so great you can perhaps see it from the moon and certainly from Brussels".
Orban's policies led to frequent clashes with the European Union, including over measures that were aimed at restricting the freedom of the press and judiciary, as well as laws targeting the LGBTQ community.
Prime Minister Viktor Orban’s party took a commanding lead in Hungarian elections, according to an early count that appeared to dim the chances of a six-party opposition alliance https://t.co/qqc4OIzpIr
— Bloomberg (@business) April 3, 2022
The 58-year-old is currently the longest-serving head of government in the EU, and now extends his term. He was challenged by six united opposition parties seeking to counter what they called Orban's "illiberal" revolution that he and his party Fidesz have pursued during their 12 consecutive years in office.
But with more than three-quarters of votes counted, Fidesz was on 54 percent compared to 33 percent for the opposition coalition, according to results from the national election office, an unassailable lead.
Earlier polls had shown a slight lead for Orban, but never more than 5 to 7 percentage points.
'Unfair and impossible circumstances'
Peter Marki-Zay, the conservative leading the opposition list, had characterised the election as a battle against "unfair and impossible circumstances" after casting his vote earlier in the day.
Getting a coalition as divers as United for Hungary together took "a long time," Budapest vice-mayor Kata Tüttö told RFI, "it doesn't come from one day to another. We are fighting together for democracy and for a long time. We tried different ways to defeat Mr. Orban four years ago, that didn't work. But it is not a technical coalition, we have to form a community of the opposition parties and of the voters," she says.
The opposition was fighting an uphill struggle from the outset. "More than 500 media outlets are controlled by the Fidesz," says Tüttö, "the public media is used by Fidesz, it doesn't serve public interest, it serves Fidesz' interest. It is a problem in Hungary, having everything controlled from one editorial."
Now United for Hungary has to continue its opposition, they may strengthen guerrilla-type tactics. "In Hungary we mostly use Facebook, and Instagram," explains Tüttö, but we have also a newsletter which we send around and can then be printed so people can share it with the neighbors, so this is the way how we could get to smaller municipalities, small towns, where social media are not so popular," she says.
International observers
MEP Marton Gyongyosi from the right-wing Jobbik party which is part of the opposition coalition, told the 444.hu site that "abuses" had taken place on Sunday and added: "This will have to be considered when talking about how the results of the elections can be respected".
Orban has dismissed such complaints and insists the vote was fair.
For the first time more than 200 international observers monitored the election in Hungary, an EU member state. They were joined by thousands of domestic volunteers from both camps.
International observers from the OECD and ENEMO will give their assessments of the elections later on Monday.
Turnout reached 68.69 percent, almost matching the record participation seen at the last national poll in 2018.
(With agencies)
