Hungary’s prime minister favored to secure third term
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PRIME Minister Viktor Orban’s Fidesz party was favored to win Hungary’s parliamentary elections by a wide margin yesterday, with a left-wing coalition and the far-right Jobbik party vying for second place.
Orban, seeking his third term, said he hoped for a heavy turnout to give legitimacy and a clear mandate for the future.
“It allows the government to do a more vigorous job,” Orban told reporters after casting his ballot in a school near his home high in the Buda hills. “I hope very many people will vote so no matter what kind of government there will be, it will start its job with large popular support.”
Fidesz and its smaller ally, the Christian Democrats, won a two-thirds majority in 2010 which allowed them to write a new constitution and pass laws unchallenged. Orban has been asking supporters to ensure another huge majority for his government so it can continue with its policies unopposed.
Polls taken days before the elections showed Fidesz favored by up to 51 percent of likely voters. The party’s voters are also considered more disciplined and likely to vote.
Former premier Gordon Bajnai, now part of a five-party left-wing coalition, said the elections would determine whether Hungary “will again be a peaceful European country” and return to its past path toward Western values — or drift further toward the East.
His remarks allude to concern over a major nuclear power deal with Russia. Orban’s government has signed a deal for a Russian firm to build an extension to Hungary’s sole, Soviet-built nuclear power plant, which produced half of the electricity last year. Russia is also giving Hungary a 10 billion euro (US$13.7 billion) loan for the project.
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