.
BUDAPEST:
Hungarians began voting on Sunday in closely watched parliamentary elections that could end nationalist Prime Minister Viktor Orban’s 16-year stint in power as a self-described “thorn” in the EU’s side.
US President Donald Trump has thrown his weight behind the EU’s current longest-serving leader, who maintains close ties to Russia. The vote is closely followed abroad, particularly across the rest of Europe.
Opinion polls suggest the Tisza party of pro-European conservative Peter Magyar, who has promised a “system change”, is running well ahead of Orban’s.
Both camps have alleged foreign interference during the campaign in the central European country of 9.5 million people. US Vice President JD Vance visited Budapest earlier this week to rally with Orban.
Orban, 62, who is seeking a fifth straight term, has transformed his country into a model of “illiberal democracy”. Like Trump, he casts migration and “woke” values as a threat to Western “civilisation”.
Former government insider Magyar, 45, burst onto the scene just two years ago, amassing support against a backdrop of economic stagnation, despite an electoral system skewed in favour of Orban’s Fidesz party.
“Now is our last chance to choose finally east or west. Do we want to be a normal democracy or turn back east with no point of return?” first-time voter David Banhegyi, 18, told AFP after casting his ballot for Tisza in a leafy part of Budapest as a steady trickle of voters arrived.
Polls opened at 6:00 am (0400 GMT), according to AFP journalists. They will close at 7:00 pm.
‘Under siege’
Orban has increasingly locked horns with Brussels, which accuses him of quashing dissent and eroding the rule of law and has frozen billions of euros in EU funding.
During his visit, Vance attacked the alleged interference in Hungary of Brussels “bureaucrats”, while Trump has promised to bring US “economic might” to Hungary if Orban’s party secures victory.
While criss-crossing the country since February, Magyar has called on Hungarians to “take our homeland back” to secure its place in the EU, and promised to crack down on corruption and offer better services.
Hungary is seen as the most corrupt in the EU, together with Bulgaria, according to the Transparency International watchdog.
“I have one main problem with this government, what it did, the robbing,” said Edit Csillaghegyi, a 58-year-old shop worker, who told AFP that she voted for Magyar’s Tisza.
