Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban’s Fidesz party won parliamentary elections Sunday and narrowly secured a new two-thirds majority, but gains by a far-right party were a cause for concern.
With over 98 percent of the votes counted, the National Election Office said Fidesz had won 133 seats in the 199-seat legislature. Fidesz, a right-wing populist party, and its small ally, the Christian Democrats, received 44.5 percent of the list votes, good for 37 seats, and also won 96 of the 106 individual constituencies.
“Every doubt and uncertainty has dissipated. We have won,” Orban told cheering supporters gathered near the Danube River after securing a third term. “Hungary again is a place where it is worth living, working and starting a family. We have declared that we are not turning back.”
A coalition of left-wing groups led by the Socialist Party was projected to have 38 seats on the back of 26 percent of the list votes, plus the 10 remaining individual constituencies.
The far-right Jobbik party gathered 20.6 percent of the list votes, nearly four percentage points more than in 2010, and will likely have 23 seats.
The green Politics Can Be Different party got 5.3 percent and five deputies in the legislature.
“Hungarians have confirmed that Hungary’s place is in the European Union, but only if it has a strong national government,” Orban said.
“I think it will be important for (Orban) to move away from short-term emergency policy measures, and move to more assurance and stability,” said Timothy Ash of Standard Bank.
