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07 April 2014

Outgoing Hungarian PM Viktor Orban wins general election


Sweeping gains by Hungary’s neo-Nazi Jobbik party provoked concern across Europe after the anti-Semitic organisation won one in five votes in a general election which returned the right-wing Prime Minister, Viktor Orban, to power.

As reported by the Robert Schuman Foundation's European Elections Monitor, the Alliance of Young Democrats-Civic Union (FIDESZ-MPP) won the general elections on 6 April 2014 in Hungary, as expected. It won 44.54 per cent of the vote (result of the proportional vote alone), ahead of the Alliance for a Change in Government, formed by four left wing parties which took 25.99 per cent of the vote. The Movement for a Better Hungary (Jobbik Magyarorszagert Mozgalom), a far right party led by Gabor Vona won 20.54 per cent of the vote. Finally Politics can be Different (LMP), an ecologist liberal party led by Andras Schiffer and Bernadett Szel will be represented in the Orszaggyules, the only chamber in parliament, since it won 5.26 per cent of the vote.

This general election was the first to take place under the new electoral law approved in November 2012 by Viktor Orban's government. The system of transferring votes in the new voting method favours the party that won. "With this new electoral system FIDESZ can now win the 2/3 majority of MPs in parliament simply with half of the votes cast in the proportional system", stressed Robert Laszlo of the think tank Political Capital.

"No doubt we have won", Mr Orban told supporters gathered in the capital, Budapest, late on the evening of the elections. "This was not just any odd victory. We have scored such a comprehensive victory, the significance of which we cannot yet fully grasp tonight", the BBC quoted him. He said the election results showed that Hungarians wanted to stay in the European Union, but with a strong national government.

As reported by the Independent, results showed that far-right Jobbik, which wants detention camps for Roma "deviants" and has argued that Jews are a "national security risk", has upped its share of support by five per cent and has secured 20.86 per cent of the vote.

The party’s leader, Gabor Vona, said the result allowed Jobbik to claim the title of "strongest national radical party" in the EU, and Hungary’s second largest political party. "Jobbik continuously increases it popularity and ahead of the European parliament elections it is important to make this clear", he said.

However, its success at the polls caused alarm in much of Europe. Moshe Kantor, the president of the European Jewish Congress, described Jobbik as an "unashamedly neo-Nazi party" and said its electoral success should serve as a "wake up call". 

The German Zeit writes on the reasons for Orbán's victory: reawakened national pride, Orbán's strong leadership, policies against the banking sector, end of the recession, and last but not least the weak opposion. 

Comments

Herman Van Rompuy, President of the European Council, commented: "I congratulate Viktor Orbán on the results of the elections in Hungary. I am convinced that Prime Minister Orbán will carry his country forward through the challenges ahead and towards our common European objectives. I wish him all the success in his new position and look forward to continuing our cooperation in the European Council."

Press release

S&D

Hannes Swoboda, president of the Socialists and Democrats Group in the European Parliament, said:

"However big a majority Orbán has obtained, this does not absolve him from complying with EU law and respecting EU values. Mr Orbán has spent the last few years redrafting the constitution and passing laws that were frequently beyond what is acceptable in a European democracy. Therefore, the European Union must continue to monitor closely whether Mr Orbán's new government will respect European law. To this end, a monitoring group as proposed in the report adopted by the European Parliament in July 2013 should be urgently established. The increase in votes for the far-right Jobbik party shows that Mr Orbán's nationalist rhetoric does not counter extremism but encourages a worrying climate of hatred."

Press release

Greens/EFA

Commenting on the result of the elections in Hungary, Rebecca Harms, President of the Greens/EFA group in the European parliament today said:

"With 44 per cent of the votes Viktor Orbán and his FIDESZ party could probably secure a two-thirds majority in the Hungarian Parliament. The unfair electoral system now cements Orbán's sinister national populism. This result was facilitated and prepared for over the last few years with limitations on the freedom of press, the independence of the judiciary, the independence of the central bank and through changes in the electoral system and a biased appointment and nominations policy in favour of FIDESZ followers.

The high abstention rate of more than 38 per cent signals that now many Hungarians too have lost their faith in the ballot-box as a means of expressing their opinions. The growing support for the extreme-right party Jobbik, which openly advocates anti-Semitic and anti-Roma policies in the tradition of the old Hungarian fascists, is shocking. Viktor Orbán’s actions have prepared the ground for Jobbik.

With these developments in Hungary, the EU should come to a new agreement on how it can ensure fundamental EU values are respected inside the community. The current lack of mandatory common democratic standards means that the EU runs the risk of breaking up from within. The EU is further endangered when right-wing populists and anti-Europeans are handled with velvet gloves by their corresponding European party groupings."

Press release





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