Hungary's Viktor Orban claims 'historic' election victory
April 8, 2018
Euroskeptic Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban has won a third term in office, and his Fidesz party will hold a two-thirds majority in parliament. Orban's campaign focused heavily on an anti-immigrant sentiment.
Image: Reuters/L. Foeger
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Prime Minister Viktor Orban's party, Fidesz, came away victorious in Sunday's parliamentary elections, receiving 48.8 percent of the vote according to preliminary results. With 98 percent of ballots counted, Fidesz has won a two-thirds majority in parliament, with a projected 133 seats of the 199 seats in the chamber.
After the 2014 elections, Orban pushed through sweeping changes to the electoral system so that some 53 percent of parliamentary seats - 106 of a total of 199 - are won on a "first-past-the-post" basis in individual constituencies, allowing for a two-thirds majority with less than 50 percent of the vote garnered.
The 54-year-old Hungarian prime minister, the longest-serving Hungarian leader since the fall of communism, led an electoral campaign that positioned him as a defender of Hungary's Christian culture against Muslim migration.
Orban celebrated his party's gains in a speech to his supporters, shortly after the preliminary results were announced.
"Dear friends, there's a big battle behind us, we secured a historic victory - we got a chance, we created a chance for us to protect Hungary," the Hungarian premier said. Orban then culminated his short address by leading the crowd in singing "Long Live Hungarian Freedom," a song from the country's 1848 revolution.
Hungary's Nationalist Jobbik party came in a distant second with roughly 20 percent of the vote and the Socialist Party received 12 percent. Two other parties, the Democratic Coalition and the green Politics Can Be Different parties are expected to surpass the 5 percent threshold and will join the legislative body.
Rival resigns
Jobbik's result prompted the resignation of its chairman, Gabor Vona. "Jobbik's goal, to win the elections and force a change in government, was not achieved," Vona said in a news conference. "Fidesz won. It won again."
Some 8 million Hungarians were eligible to vote for 199 lawmakers, with 106 directly elected according to electoral districts and 93 elected from countrywide party lists. Sunday's election registered a turnout of 69 percent, seven points higher than that of the 2014 parliamentary elections.
The parliamentary elections in Hungary were closely monitored across Europe, as Orban has had a troubled relationship with EU institutions due to his rejection of the bloc's refugee resettlement scheme and what many see as his attacks on civil society, the media and the country's institutions.
Viktor Orban's most controversial migration comments
Hungary's right-wing prime minister has been one of Europe's leading voices against migration into the EU. Unafraid of controversy, he has described migration as an "invasion" and migrants as a "poison."
Image: Reuters/B. Szabo
'Muslim invaders'
"We don't see these people as Muslim refugees. We see them as Muslim invaders," Orban said in a recent interview with German daily Bild newspaper. The 54-year-old prime minister of Hungary added: "We believe that a large number of Muslims inevitably leads to parallel societies, because Christian and Muslim society will never unite." Multiculturalism, he said, "is only an illusion."
Image: Reuters/F. Lenoir
'You wanted the migrants, we didn't'
When asked by Bild whether it was fair for Germany to accept hundreds of thousands of refugees and migrants while Hungary accepted none, Orban responded: "The difference is, you wanted the migrants, and we didn't." Migration, he said, threatens the "sovereignty and cultural identity" of Hungary.
Image: Reuters/L. Balogh
'Migration is poison'
It was not the first time the Hungarian leader has framed migration as a problem for his country. In 2016, he said that Hungary "does not need a single migrant for the economy to work, or the population to sustain itself, or for the country to have a future." He added: "for us migration is not a solution but a problem ... not medicine but a poison, we don’t need it and won’t swallow it.”
Image: picture alliance/dpa/AP Photo/P. Gorondi
'Importing homophobia'
Orban has repeatedly criticized German Chancellor Angela Merkel for her decision to allow over a million migrants into Germany in the summer of 2015. Orban told Bild in early 2016: "If you take masses of non-registered immigrants from the Middle East into your country, you are importing terrorism, crime, anti-Semitism, and homophobia."
Image: Reuters/L. Balogh
'All terrorists are basically migrants'
Orban has also repeatedly criticized the EU for trying to get member states to share refugees based on national quotas. In a 2015 interview with POLITICO, he suggested the bloc's leaders instead focus more on strengthening the EU's external border. In the same interview, he said: "Of course it’s not accepted, but the factual point is that all the terrorists are basically migrants."
Image: Getty Images/AFP/S. Bozon
'Parallel societies'
Orban has found allies in other right-wing governments in eastern Europe such as Poland that also oppose the EU's refugee policies. In an interview with Spanish TV channel Intereconomia in 2015, Orban raised fears about integrating Muslim migrants in the EU when he said: "What sort of Europe do we want to have? Parallel societies? Muslim communities living together with the Christian community?"