‘Viktory’: Hungary PM’s crushing election win a boost for EU populists
Election victory opens the way for Viktor Orban, 54, to become Hungary’s longest-serving prime minister and, if he finishes his term, to rule the country of 10 million for half of its post-communist existence
Hungary’s anti-immigration populist premier Viktor Orban was set for a third straight term Monday after a crushing election victory, delighting other nationalists but likely causing unease in some other EU members.
Addressing cheering supporters in Budapest late on Sunday, Orban called the result a “destiny-deciding victory” which would give Hungarians “the opportunity to defend themselves and to defend Hungary”.
Orban’s Fidesz party won around 49 per cent of the vote, an improvement on its score from four years ago and which may even gift it a two-thirds majority in parliament, which would enable it to change the constitution.
Some other EU members are likely to view Orban’s renewed internal dominance with trepidation, given his repeated run-ins with Brussels institutions over his hardline anti-immigration policies and rejection of the EU’s refugee resettlement programme, as well as his moves to clamp down on civil society groups.
However, nationalists and those on the far-right who admire Orban’s strident brand of identity politics and claims to be a protector of “Christian Europe” will take comfort in the result.