Fidesz-KDNP in landslide victory, retain 2/3 Parliamentary majority
*The* news of the week – and the year – in Hungary was last weekend’s national Parliamentary elections. To the surprise of essentially no one, Prime Minister Viktor Orbán’s Fidesz-KDNP coalition enjoyed a landslide victory over would-be contenders; thanks in part to close victories in Miskolc and Budapest’s district 15, the party will seemingly again earn another two-thirds majority in Parliament.
With nearly 99% of the vote counted, the National Election Office (NVI) reported 44.54% support for Fidesz; 25.99% for the opposition left-wing Unity coalition; 20.54% for far-right Jobbik; 5.26% for the green-centered LMP and 3.66% for other parties. In terms of seat count in the new formation of Parliament, the breakdown would be Fidesz-KDNP, 133 of the 200 available spots; Unity, 39; Jobbik, 23; and LMP, 5.
In her consolation speech, Timea Szabó of the Unity party Together 2014-Dialogue for Hungary (E14-PM) stated that “We will not give up the hope, the goal that we can create a democratic country out of Hungary … We must renew politics and the left wing from the bottom up.”
Former prime minister/current Democratic Coalition (DK) party co-president Ferenc Gyurcsány meanwhile stated that “We believe in a country where the people are free, not the powerful. This struggle suffered a defeat this evening… But we haven’t changed what we think: Viktor Orbán’s Hungary is not my country.”
Dirty tricks with Közgép in Siófok alleged
Going into the national Parliamentary election, just as clear as a Fidesz win was the likelihood of dirty campaign tricks being revealed in the final days of the voting process. Perhaps the primary example of this was a complaint from both the left-wing Unity coalition and the far-right Jobbik that Fidesz officials had reportedly worked a deal with construction firm Közgép.
An audio recording of Siófok mayor Árpád Balázs, Fidesz-KDNP parliamentary candidate Mihály Witzmann and Közgép representatives discussing the campaign was released by Nyugat.hu on Friday, causing Siófok MSzP MP Gábor Harangozó to label Fidesz “a public mafia network financed by Közgép.” Reportedly, Balazs and Witzmann promised Közgép the lucrative, supposedly public, tender to complete the Siófok hospital revitalization.
LMP will be joining MSzP and Jobbik in filing an official report with regard to the recording and election results in Siófok, while an official statement from the Siófok municipality claims the audio file was “doctored.”
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