Around 100,000 of Hungarians have protested in the capital Budapest against the re-elected right-wing government of PM Viktor Orban.
Viktor Orban’s opponents flooded Budapest on April 14 to protest at what they say is an unfair electoral system.
A similar number of people attended a pro-Orban demonstration last month.
The protests come just six days after the governing FIDESZ party won two-thirds of the parliamentary seats with half of the national vote.
Viktor Orban is a strong Eurosceptic who campaigned on an anti-immigration platform.
The march was organized through a Facebook group called “We are the majority”. Following the large turn-out for the rally, the organizers have called for a further demonstration next weekend.
A large number of police were deployed in Budapest, including riot officers, however the demonstration remained peaceful.
Speakers who participated in the event denounced what they called Viktor Orban’s theft of the election, and the corruption and abuse of power they say characterizes his rule.
Asked about the prospect of forthcoming demonstrations, Viktor Orban simply replied: “We won, that’s it.”
The protests’ organizers have demanded a recount of all ballots, a new election law, a non-partisan public media, and better organized co-operation among parties opposed to the FIDESZ government.
Many of those who marched the streets to the Hungarian parliament were young people.
Many parties and movements opposed to Viktor Orban’s government, including the right-wing nationalist Jobbik, participated in the demonstration.
In a speech to supporters on the night of election, Viktor Orban said his victory gave Hungarians “the opportunity to defend themselves and to defend Hungary”.
Leaders of the second and third-placed parties have resigned in light of the result.
Polling stations were meant to close at 19:00 local time, but some stayed open hours later due to long queues. Voter turnout reached a near-record 69% – an outcome some believed would favor Viktor Orban’s opponents.
However, with almost all votes counted, the nationalist Jobbik party is in second place with 20% of the vote. The Socialists are in third with 12%, and the LMP, Hungary’s main Green Party, is in fourth with 7%.
Jobbik’s chairman Gabor Vona resigned on the night of election, telling a news conference: “Jobbik’s goal, to win the elections and force a change in government, was not achieved. FIDESZ won. It won again.”
Socialist Party President Gyula Molnar also resigned, saying: “We regard ourselves as responsible for what happened [and] we have acknowledged the decision of voters.”
Hungary’s PM Viktor Orban has declared victory in Sunday’s parliamentary election, winning a second consecutive term.
Viktor Orban’s centre-right Fidesz has polled 45%, with most of the votes counted.
A centre-left opposition alliance is trailing with 25%, while the far-right Jobbik party is credited with 21%.
The Hungarian left has never fully recovered from its heavy defeat in the 2010 ballot, in which Viktor Orban swept to power with a two-thirds majority.
Sunday’s election has been mainly fought over the state of the economy, correspondents say.
“No doubt we have won,” Viktor Orban told supporters gathered in the capital, Budapest, late on Sunday evening.
Hungary’s PM Viktor Orban has declared victory in Sunday’s parliamentary election, winning a second consecutive term (photo Reuters)
“This was not just any odd victory. We have scored such a comprehensive victory, the significance of which we cannot yet fully grasp tonight.”
Viktor Orban said the election results showed that Hungarians wanted to stay in the EU, but with a strong national government.
“I’m going to work every day so that Hungary will be a wonderful place,” he declared.
Fidesz is predicted to win around 135 of the 199 seats in parliament.
It now also seems likely that Jobbik will become the second-largest party in parliament.
Although the Socialist-led opposition is in second place, the five parties making up the alliance plan to form their own factions after the elections.
Observers say Jobbik’s adoption of a softer image has paid dividends, as a recent opinion poll found leader Gabor Vona to be the most popular opposition politician.
Fidesz supporters say Viktor Orban’s victory is a tribute to his leadership powers. But opposition parties have accused the prime minister throughout their campaign of undermining Hungarian democracy.
They have also accused Viktor Orban of curtailing civil liberties and harming free speech.
Fidesz has insisted that reform was needed to complete the work of eradicating the legacy of Communism from the country, and reduce the budget deficit to below the EU’s required 3% of gross domestic product.
Viktor Orban’s populist and Eurosceptic approach has proven popular with many Hungarians.
Hungary’s PM Viktor Orban and his right-wing Fidesz party are seeking another term in office in elections on Sunday.
Fidesz is expected to win between 45 and 50% of the vote, polls suggest.
The centre-left opposition is facing a close race for second place with the far-right Jobbik party.
The Hungarian left has never fully recovered from its heavy defeat in the 2010 ballot, in which Viktor Orban swept to power with a two-thirds majority.
The election is mainly being fought over the state of the economy, correspondents say.
Socialist leader Attila Mesterhazy, who heads an opposition coalition of five parties, said he could still defeat Viktor Orban, despite trailing behind in opinion polls with around 25%.
Viktor Orban and his right-wing Fidesz party are seeking another term in office in elections on Sunday (photo Daily News Hungary)
“I don’t care about the polls, people are afraid of expressing their views,” Attila Mesterhazy said Saturday at a small rally in the capital, Budapest.
“I believe I will be prime minister.”
Critics say the state of democracy in Hungary has been eroded under Viktor Orban’s premiership.
The opposition – composed of five leftist and centrist parties – also accuses Viktor Orban of curtailing civil liberties and harming free speech.
But Fidesz has insisted that reform was needed in order to complete the work of eradicating the legacy of Communism from the country, and reduce the budget deficit to below the EU’s required 3% of gross domestic product.
Viktor Orban’s populist and Eurosceptic approach has proven popular with many Hungarians.
“The left had eight years to show what they can do, and they showed us all right,” Viktor Orban told Hungarian media on Saturday.
“Why on Earth should we believe that the same people and the same parties would not do the same if given another opportunity?”
Jobbik is also expected to do well in Sunday’s election, potentially receiving up to 20% of the vote.
Observers say the far-right party’s adoption of a softer image has paid dividends, as a recent opinion poll found leader Gabor Vona to be the most popular opposition politician.
Hungarian parliament has adopted a package of constitutional changes proposed by the ruling conservative Fidesz party which critics say undermine democracy.
Fidesz has two-thirds of the seats in parliament, but the measures were approved overwhelmingly as opposition MPs boycotted the vote.
The amendment tightens up the laws on higher education, homelessness, election campaigns and family rights.
It defies constitutional court rulings.
The EU and US had urged Fidesz to respect democratic checks and balances.
In response, Prime Minister Viktor Orban accused the EU of interfering in Budapest’s domestic affairs.
The lengthy amendment overturns earlier constitutional court rulings and limits the court’s right to challenge laws passed by parliament in future. It also includes:
Restrictions on political adverts in the publicly run media during election campaigns
A rule that university students can only get state grants if they pledge to work in Hungary after graduation
Fines or prison terms for homeless people who sleep on the streets.
It is the fourth amendment to Hungary’s new constitution since it came into force just 14 months ago – a fact which helps underpin criticism that the new constitution was both hurried and flawed.
Critics at home and abroad say the amendment dismantles the architecture of democracy established since the fall of communism, and allows Fidesz to cement its own ideology at the heart of the state.
Several thousand people protested in Budapest on Saturday against the proposed changes.
Hungarian parliament has adopted a package of constitutional changes proposed by the ruling conservative Fidesz party which critics say undermine democracy
Fidesz argues the changes are necessary to make a clean break with the previous constitution, which was adopted in 1989 when Hungary threw off communist rule.
But Viktor Orban is under pressure at least to postpone Monday’s vote until experts from the Council of Europe – Europe’s main human rights watchdog – can examine the amendment.
German MEP Alexander Lambsdorff urged the European Commission to investigate a possible “systematic violation of European values” by the Hungarian government ahead of the vote, the newspaper Der Tagesspiegel reports.
In a separate development, Viktor Orban described as “scandalous” a court decision against the government over state-imposed gas price cuts.
He said he would not accept the ruling scrapping recent 10% price cuts and would instead submit a new proposal to lower prices even further.
The government’s measure is popular with many Hungarians who are struggling to pay their bills, but energy companies have complained that they have to foot the bill.
Over 30,000 people have been protesting in Budapest over Hungary’s controversial new constitution, a day after it came into force.
The country’s governing Fidesz party pushed the law through parliament in April after winning a two-thirds majority in parliamentary elections.
Opposition say the new constitution threatens democracy by removing checks and balances set up in 1989 when Communism fell.
The EU and U.S. had also asked for the law to be withdrawn.
The dispute has cast doubt over talks on a new financing agreement with the EU and IMF, seen as vital for market confidence in the central European country.
But the economic crisis facing Hungary overshadows both the government’s policies and the opposition protests.
Over 30,000 people have been protesting in Budapest over Hungary's controversial new constitution, a day after it came into force
Fidesz party won the elections promising to create a million workplaces – but there has been no growth so far.
As the public mood worsens, so do the country’s ratings, the chances of attracting foreign investment, and creating more jobs.
Several centre-left opposition parties joined in the protests, held near a gala event organized by the government to celebrate the new constitution.
Protesters chanted slogans denouncing the centre-right Prime Minister, Viktor Orban, and carried placards denouncing his “dictatorship” as officials arrived for the event.
“Viktor Orban and his servants turned Hungary from a promising place to the darkest spot in Europe,” said Socialist MP Tibor Szanyi, quoted by AFP news agency.
Aspects of the new constitution and accompanying laws which have come in for criticism include:
• A preamble committed to defending the intellectual and spiritual unity of the nation, which experts warn could be a future source of tension;
• The inclusion of social issues – like the rights of the unborn child, marriage between a man and a woman, and the definition of life sentences – which experts say should be left to ethical debates within society;
• The rewriting of the electoral system, in a way which opponents say favors Fidesz;
But Fidesz says the new constitution, or basic law, improves the legal framework of life in Hungary.
“Despite political debates we think it is an important value that for the first time, a freely elected parliament created the Basic Law,” said Fidesz MP Gergely Gulyas, quoted by the Reuters news agency.
Gergely Gulyas co-wrote the new law and shepherded it through parliament.
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