With just under a 50% share of the vote, Hungary’s ruling Fidesz secured a triumphant victory and Viktor Orban confirmed his unshakable grip to power for a fourth consecutive term.
With 49%, Orban can claim a parliamentary majority of two-thirds, that is, 133 of the 199 seats in the Hungarian parliament.
Orban’s triumph is accentuated given that a record 69% of the eligible votes went to the poles. Most analysts claimed that a massive voter turnout would benefit the opposition.
Sunday’s general elections could put the cohesion of the European People’s Party to the test. Fidesz is not the only EPP member to campaign – and win – on a Eurosceptic, xenophobic and vehemently Islamophobic platform. Orban campaigned on a single-issue, promising a legislative package dubbed “stop Soros,” in reference to the Hungarian-born US financier; among other things, the bill will slam a 25% tax on funds channeled towards migrant human rights advocacy.
Anti-migrant sentiment has also benefitted the opposition. The second winner of the Hungarian elections is the far-right Jobbik, which reaped 20% of the vote despite its anti-Semitic and violent track record.
Marine Le Pen of the National Front hailed the victory of the Hungarian Prime Minister. Luxembourg’s foreign minister, Jean Asselborn, told Die Welt radio that Orban is a “tumor of values” that must be stoped. Asselborn has called for Hungary’s suspension from the EU for treating refugees “like animals,” while Hungary’s foreign minister Péter Szijjártó called Asselborn “an idiot.”
