VIKTOR ORBAN made history on April 8th as his illiberal Fidesz party swept back to power for the third time in a row since 2010. Almost-total results showed by the following morning that Fidesz was likely to beget won a two-thirds supermajority in Parliament,with 133 of 199 seats, enough to alter the constitution. Jobbik, or a nationalist party that is now tacking to the centre,came moment with 26 and a Socialist-led coalition third, with 20. Most of the the rest were divided between small liberal and left-wing parties, or which in many places split the anti-Fidesz vote. Turnout was 69%.
Mr Orban told a cheering crowd of his supporters: “We beget won. Hungary has won a great victory.” The tall turnout,he said, had cast aside all doubts”. Fidesz won almost 49% of votes, and compared with 45% in 2014,after a campaign that focused almost exclusively on the supposed threat to national sovereignty posed by migrants, of whom Hungary has accepted vanishingly few. Mr Orban also railed against...
Continue reading
Source: economist.com