Hungarians Vote In Election That is Expected To Grant Fourth Term To Nationalist PM

Voters in Hungary are heading to the polls in a parliamentary election on April 8. According to preelection surveys, Prime Minister Viktor Orban’s ruling nationalist Fidesz party is expected to get about 50 percent of the vote, which would give the anti-Europe, anti-immigrant leader his third consecutive term in office. Opinion polls suggest that Fidesz will outperform Jobbik, a party with radical nationalist roots that has become increasingly centrist in recent years and whose leader Gabor Vona is seen as Orban’s main rival. Even if Orban emerges victorious, however, he may fall short of the two-thirds majority he won eight years ago. Casting his vote in Budapest, Orban, who also served as prime minister from 1998 to 2002, brushed aside suggestions that Hungary under his rule is anything but a loyal EU member. In Gyongyos, Vona said he hoped his country’s future would not be defined by immigration. (Reuters)