Daily Times

Hungarians turned out in high numbers to vote Sunday with nationalist Prime Minister Viktor Orban seeking a fourth term in a tight general election overshadowed by the war in neighbouring Ukraine.

The 58-year-old faces a stiff challenge from six united opposition parties determined to roll back the “illiberal” revolution Orban’s Fidesz party has pursued during 12 consecutive years in office. His administration has presided over repeated confrontations with the European Union, including over the neutering of the press and judiciary, and measures targeting the LGBTQ community.

By mid-afternoon turnout stood at 52.7 percent, almost matching the record participation seen at the last national elections in 2018. Orban, dressed in a black suit and wearing a determined expression, told reporters he was expecting a “great victory” as he voted at a school in a leafy Budapest suburb.

Peter Marki-Zay, 49, the conservative uniting the opposition, characterised the election as a battle against “unfair and impossible circumstances”.

The father of seven cast his ballot after attending mass with his family in the city of Hodmezovasarhely, where he won a shock election to become mayor in 2018, defeating the ruling Fidesz party. “Regardless of the result, this election is not free,” he said. The opposition has been all but absent from state media. Orban dismissed such complaints and insisted the vote was “fair”.

More than 200 international observers are monitoring an election in Hungary, an EU member, for the first time, along with thousands of domestic volunteers from both camps.

Budapest resident Agnes Kunyik, 56, told AFP she backed the opposition. “We want to remain in Europe, we want a democratic rational state.

“They have ruined our country, destroyed it,” she said of Fidesz, becoming visibly emotional.

While the capital is fertile territory for the opposition, however, the election will be decided in around 30 small-town swing seats out of 106 directly elected constituencies. Marki-Zay has criss-crossed these areas to reach voters directly in a bid to break through government “propaganda”.

By contrast, Andras Pulai of the opposition leaning Publicus polling institute accused Orban of not holding any open campaign events apart from a final rally on Friday.