Hungary’s parliamentary elections are pointing to a victory for Viktor Orbán’s right-wing nationalist Fidesz party, which appears to have held off a strong challenge by an alliance of six opposition parties, informs MIA.
With 90 percent of the votes counted, Fidesz was clearly ahead on Sunday evening with 54 percent of ballots, according to the country’s electoral commission.
This means Fidesz is likely to have won 135 of the 199 seats in parliament, giving the party another two-thirds majority. The opposition alliance “Hungary in Unity,” led by Péter Márki-Zay, was at 35 percent and 56 seats. Orbán, who has been in power for 12 years, claimed victory in comments to supporters Sunday night.
“We have won a tremendous victory,” he said.
“Such an enormous victory it can be seen from the moon, and certainly from Brussels.” Orbán was alluding to his ongoing conflicts with the European Union. Hungary has been a member of the bloc since 2004. Márki-Zay meanwhile conceded defeat.
“But we are here to stay, we are standing up for everyone, we are staying on the heels of power,” he said. The “Hungary in Unity” alliance, the first of its kind in Hungary, comprises parties of left, green, liberal and right-wing conservative persuasions, all of whom had been hoping to optimize their chances of defeating Orbán. Márki-Zay, an independent conservative, had called on citizens to vote out the Orbán government in a Facebook video on Sunday morning.
“Let’s vote for a better world, a happy Hungary,” he said outside his home in the small south-eastern Hungarian town of Hódmezővásárhely, where he has been mayor since 2018. With billboards, most of the media, state television and radio all under the control of the right-wing premier, the opposition was forced to fight its election campaign predominantly on the streets. Márki-Zay was a surprise choice to emerge out of the opposition primaries, ahead of the vice president of the European Parliament, Klára Dobrev, and Budapest Mayor Gergely Karácsony.
A conservative independent politician, he is a practicing Catholic and the father of seven children. He recently compared Hungary under Orbán to Russia under President Vladimir Putin.
“Orbán and his people — just like Putin — put down the decadent West, they’ve forced the media to follow the party line, they harass civil organizations, and they steal. In this system you, the people, will grow poorer, and they, the privileged will grow rich.” “In the Ukraine war, Orbán completely isolated our country. Thanks to him and his corruption we have to be ashamed in front of the world.”
