Orban readies for third term as Hungary PM
BudaPest: Hungary’s strongman premier Viktor Orban will be formally re-elected for a third straight term with the country’s beleaguered opposition facing an uncertain future.
Orban was officially requested to form a new government by Hungarian President Janos Ader on Monday, and was re-elected to the post in the first session of the new parliament yesterday.
Meanwhile, several hundred anti-government protesters formed a human chain around parliament in a symbolic protest late Monday.
Another anti-Orban demonstration, expected to draw tens of thousands, was also scheduled for yesterday evening.
They are part of a grassroots civil protest movement that has sprung up since April’s parliamentary election, with opposition party leaders still reeling from the results.
Orban’s ruling right-wing Fidesz party defied predictions of a tight contest by winning with a landslide 49% of the vote compared to under 20 for its nearest challenger, the nationalist Jobbik party.
That helped Fidesz clinch a third consecutive two-thirds parliamentary majority, granting Orban further authority to amend the constitution and fast-track new laws.
Since the vote, Orban has pledged to govern in the interests of all Hungarians, but has also called his triumph “the biggest mandate” since the switch from communism in 1990.
His election campaign was dominated by strident anti-immigration rhetoric, and early measures signalled by the government indicate he will continue in the same vein.
One of his first steps is likely to be the insertion of a constitutional clause preventing the “settlement of alien population”.
Another package of bills targets non-governmental organisations funded by Hungarian-born US billionaire George Soros who Orban says orchestrates immigration.
Orban’s critics, meanwhile, accuse him of removing democratic checks and balances and steering the country away from the European mainstream. Further inroads on judicial and media independence, squeezed in recent years, are seen as likely by analysts. Since the election, two protests organised via social media by a group called “We are the Majority” have drawn tens of thousands in Budapest with smaller demonstrations taking place in cities around the country.
The protesters have formed a cross-section of society, spanning age, class and political affiliation, with rainbow and EU flags flown alongside ultra-nationalist symbols.