THE Hungary’s nationalist leader Victor Orban won yesterday Sunday fourth term in the country’s prime minister, more easily than expected.
At the age of 58, Orban faced a united opposition for the first time, determined to fight the “authoritarianism” and “corruption” of the previous 12 years.
Analysts predicted a difficult battle, but the results showed easy victory for the outgoing Prime Minister: Orban’s party, the Fideszgarnered 53.35% of the vote after counting 93% of the ballots, compared to 34.75% for the opposition, according to the National Electoral Office.
This percentage means that Fidesz will retain the two-thirds majority in parliament.
“We have achieved an amazing victory, a victory so great that they can undoubtedly be seen from the moon and in any case clearly from Brussels,” said a smiling Orban, who often comes into conflict with the EU.
“We defended the sovereignty and freedom of Hungary,” he added.
Another surprise of the election, the new far-right party Mi Hazank exceeded the 5% threshold and managed to enter parliament.
“Sadness” by Marki-Zai
THE leader of the united opposition, Peter Marki-Zaiaddressed his supporters late Sunday night.
“I will not hide my sadness and frustration,” he said. However, he pointed out that “the battle was unequal” in the face of “propaganda” and “a campaign of hatred and lies”.
Earlier yesterday, when he went to the polls, the 49-year-old mayor had denounced the “unjust and weak conditions” under which he ran his election campaign, aimed at allowing Orban to “stay in power forever”.
“We acknowledge that Fidesz won the vast majority of votes, but we doubt that this election was democratic and free,” said Markey-Zai.
For his part, Jobbik party vice-president Marto Gyeonggiosi spoke of “irregularities.”
During his 12 years in power, Orban has imposed restrictions on the media and the judiciary – at odds with the EU – while advancing his super-conservative social agenda.
The parliamentary elections were observed for the first time by more than 200 international observers, while each party had recruited its own volunteers.
“War changed everything”
The war in neighboring Ukraine broke out in the middle election campaign and completely reversed the data.
Orban appeared as the “protector” of Hungarythe one who can guarantee peace and stability in the country, refusing to hand over weapons to Ukraine and impose sanctions on Russiawhich would deprive the Hungarians of the country’s precious gas and oil.
At the same time, in the election posters and in the pro-government media, Marki-Zai appeared as “dangerous” and was accused of wanting to push the country into war by expressing his active support for Ukraine.
Despite the fact that Markey-Zay underlined Orban’s close relationship with Russian President Vladimir Putin, characterizing him “Hungarian Putin”, did not seem to convince voters.
Orban presented his unexpected victory as revenge against many “opponents”, talking about the bureaucrats in Brussels, the international media or even the Ukrainian President »Volodymyr Zelenskywho had blamed him directly for staying out of the conflict.
THE Matteo Salvini, leader of the nationalist Lega party in Italyand its president far-right National Alarm, France’s Marine Le Pen they hurried to “congratulate” Orban.
In addition to the parliamentary elections, Hungarians were called yesterday to vote in a referendum on “Child protection”, on the recent bill banning the mention of “gender reassignment and homosexuality” to children under 18 years of age.
According to some results, not enough valid votes have been collected.
Follow Skai.gr on Google News
and be the first to know all the news
