Governing party wins parliamentary elections

The governing party Fidesz won the Hungarian parliamentary elections held this Sunday. It is yet to be seen whether Viktor Orbán's party can retain its two-thirds majority since a few constituencies are too close to call.

According to data by the election authority, the ruling Fidesz is to fill 133 of the 199 seats in parliament, with the democratic center-left coalition gaining 38, the radical right Jobbik 23 and the green LMP 5 seats.

Given the peculiarities of the new election system Fidesz created thanks to its two-thirds majority in the past four years, 44.5% of the votes cast were enough to produce a likely two-thirds majority of the seats again. It is especially interesting in the light of the fact that Fidesz recorded about 8% less votes than four years ago. The voter turnout was low, just over 61%

The vast majority of the 106 individual constituencies have been won by Fidesz with the democratic center-left likely to gain 10-12 of these seats, mostly in Budapest and one each in the cities of Szeged (in the southeast9 and Miskolc (in the northeast).

Five constituencies still seem too close to call and their outcome could also decide whether Fidesz is going have again a two-thirds majority that provided it with the basically uncontrolled authority in the past four years to change laws and regulations – including the election laws.