Hungary’s authoritarian leader and longtime Russian ally, Viktor Orban, has declared victory in the country’s parliamentary elections, clinching a fourth consecutive term in power.
Highlights
- Hungary’s Fidesz party had a commanding lead with 71% of the votes counted.
- The election campaign was dominated by Moscow’s invasion of Ukraine.
- Hungary is heavily reliant on Russian energy and Orban has dodged opportunities to condemn Putin’s assault on its neighboring state.
- Opposition leader Peter Marki-Zay even failed to win in his own district, where he had served as mayor in the previous district.
- But despite opinion polls forecasting a tighter race, Orban’s party won comfortably across much of the country, according to the national elections board on Sunday evening, it won comfortably in most of Hungary’s rural areas and in his former district.