Fidesz Retains Power at Parliamentary Elections

The ruling Fidesz party won the Hungarian parliamentary elections this Sunday and is likely to retain a two-thirds majority in parliament with 53% of the votes. Among those congratulating PM Viktor Orbán were Russian President Vladimir Putin and Italian right-wing Liga party leader, Matteo Salvini.

With over 98% of the votes counted in the single round vote, official results show that Fidesz received 53.3% with the opposition alliance getting 34.9%. The only other party passing the 5% threshold is the ‘Mi hazánk’ (Our homeland) that received 6.1%.

Regarding the share of participation, 67.8% of those eligible to vote actually cast their ballot at the elections.

Given to the peculiar rules of the Hungarian election system, this share of the votes of just over 50% is likely to result in a two-thirds majority in parliament. As the difference between the two leading candidates is minimal, only the final results will tell whether Fidesz will have at least 133 of the 199 members of parliament. 106 members of Hungarian parliament are elected from individual constituencies and 93 from party lists.

Analysts say the results show that Hungary is still divided politically. In the capital Budapest, the six unified opposition parties won 16 of the 18 constituencies according to the non-final vote count, while the governing party dominated in other parts of the country.

Along with the election to parliament, a controversial referendum on LGBTQ issues was also held on Sunday. The questions pertained to sex education programs in schools and the availability to children of information about sex reassignment. The referendum is likely to be non-valid - validity requires that more than 50% of the electorate vote 'yes' or 'no' – as over 1.5 million voters invalidated the ballot on purpose in protest of the government putting on the ballot questions that are deemed discriminatory and contravened European values.