Voting in the parliamentary elections began early Sunday morning in Hungary. A total of five parties are participating, but there are two real rivals: Viktor Orban's Fidesz, which has ruled the country for 16 years, and Peter Madjar's Tisa. Independent polls predict a confident victory for the opposition.
At 6 AM in Budapest, polling stations opened across Hungary. Voters will cast their ballots until 7 PM — for a candidate in a single-member district (106 out of 199 seats will be distributed this way) and for a party. To enter parliament, political parties must overcome a five percent threshold.
A total of five parties are participating in the elections. The main rivals are Viktor Orban's Fidesz, which has held the position of prime minister since 2010, and Peter Madjar's Tisa, established in 2020 (Madjar himself left the ruling party to join the opposition in 2024).
In addition to them, voters will be able to vote for the left-wing Democratic Coalition, the parody Two-Tailed Dog Party, and the far-right Our Homeland (Mi Hazánk). Only the latter, according to polls, has a chance of overcoming the five percent barrier.
Independent sociological surveys predict a confident victory for Tisa, but government-affiliated centers suggest that Orban's party will retain its parliamentary majority.
Orban and the country's foreign minister, Peter Szijjarto, regularly express their views on how Kyiv and Brussels are dragging Budapest into the war, warning of allegedly impending Ukrainian diversions at Hungarian energy facilities. Additionally, Hungary consistently blocks financial aid to Ukraine and the introduction of new sanctions against Russia at the European Union level.
Even U.S. Vice President J.D. Vance visited to support Orban before the elections. He praised the prime minister for protecting the Hungarian people and for all he has done for a "successful resolution of the war between Russia and Ukraine," while also accusing Brussels of interfering in the parliamentary elections.
Peter Madjar, however, tries not to raise the topic of the war in Ukraine. The leader of Tisa took into account the lessons of other opposition parties that lost to Fidesz in the past, said Peter Marki-Zai, Orban's main rival in the parliamentary elections of 2022, in an interview with Politico.
According to Hungarian law, votes must be counted no later than Saturday, April 18, reports the BBC.
