Hungary’s Viktor Orban wins re-election

BUDAPEST, Hungary (AP) — Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban easily won a third consecutive term Sunday and his Fidesz party was poised to regain its super majority in parliament, according to preliminary results from the country’s election.

With 84.7 per cent of the votes counted, Fidesz and its small ally, the Christian Democrat party, had secured 133 of the 199 seats in the legislature, the minimum needed for a two-thirds majority. The right-wing nationalist Jobbik party placed second with 26 seats, while a Socialist-led, left-wing coalition ran third with 20.

Only two other parties, former Prime Minister Ferenc Gyurcsany’s Democratic Coalition and the green Politics Can Be Different party were expected to surpass the 5 per cent threshold needed to form a parliamentary faction.

Orban won his fourth term overall on a platform that openly demonizes migrants to Europe.

Opposition parties feared that another super-majority would allow the autocratic leader to more easily push through constitutional changes, continue his crackdown on civic groups that he claims work against Hungarian interests and further strengthen his grasp on the highly centralized state power structure.

Orban says his “decisive” re-election to a third consecutive term and his Fidesz party’s apparent super-majority in parliament are “an opportunity to defend Hungary.”

Orban’s near-exclusive campaign focus on demonizing migration and repeated conspiracy theory that the European Union, the United Nations and wealthy philanthropist George Soros want to turn Hungary into a “immigrant country” struck a nerve, especially with rural voters in Sunday;s election.

Orban began a brief speech to cheering supporters after preliminary results were announced with a clear message: “We won.”

He also told the crowd: “We created the opportunity to defend Hungary. A great battle is behind us. We have achieved a decisive victory.”

The win is Orban’s fourth overall. He headed a Fidesz-led coalition government during 1998-2002 before returning to power in 2010.