The whole of Europe is watching as Hungarians head to the polls on Sunday, April 12, to elect 199 MPs to the National Assembly. The vote is seen as a pivotal election not just in the 10-million-strong Central European nation of Hungary but also throughout Europe.
Prime Minister Viktor Orbán’s conservative Fidesz party has been in power for the last sixteen years, implementing policies that have drawn the ire of the European Union’s institutions, as well as of liberal governments in Western Europe.
Viktor Orbán has pursued anti-immigration, pro-family, anti-LGBT, and anti-woke policies. His government has espoused conservative, Christian values. His foreign policy has been built on a common-sense approach, trying to establish pragmatic relationships with not only Hungary’s traditional Western allies within the EU and NATO but also with powers like China and Russia.
The EU has lambasted the Budapest government for diverging from the mainstream EU approach and refusing military aid to Ukraine, opposing Ukraine’s EU accession, and rejecting sanctions on Russia, which Orbán’s government says harms the European economy more than Russia itself.
Brussels, left-wing forces and NGOs in Europe have constantly battled and threatened Hungary for the past decade and a half to try and alter the Central European nation’s course: they have frozen EU funds to Hungary, excluded Hungarian students from participating in the EU’s Erasmus exchange programme, imposed a daily fine of €1 million on Hungary for protecting its borders against the invasion of illegal migrants, and taken Hungary to court for the Hungarian ban on promoting gender ideology in schools. Hungary has even been threatened by Brussels that its voting rights in the EU will be taken away if it does not comply.
Hungary stands in the way of everything that is wrong with the EU, and Brussels knows this very well. That’s why the liberal elites are hoping for the victory of Fidesz’s main rival, the Tisza party, which belongs to the centrist European People’s Party (EPP).
Fidesz and Tisza campaign-closing rallies on Saturday
The campaign-closing rally of Fidesz was held in the Buda Castle in Budapest, while that of the Tisza Party in Hungary’s second largest city, Debrecen last night.
At the Fidesz rally that attracted a sizeable crowd that included families with young children, Orbán declared “We, as a civic, patriotic, and Christian community, are capable of defending Hungary’s interests and staying out of wars.” The prime minister said Fidesz needs 3 million votes for a comfortable majority and exhorted all to go and vote “and convince three other people to do so too.” He reminded Hungarians that in a democracy, national unity can be achieved through election results, therefore, if the 3 million votes are secured, then “not even the gates of hell will be able to prevail against us in the next four years.“
Péter Magyar pledged Tisza would not change the Hungarian Basic Law on its own even if it achieves a two-thirds majority in parliament, but would involve “all political forces” in the drafting of the new constitution and would then hold a referendum on the amended Basic Law. He also committed to introducing a wealth tax for “billionaires,” to releasing the so-called “informants files” from Communist times “and beyond,” and to launching an inquiry into “Russian interference” in Hungary.
Follow europeanconservative.com’s live coverage from Hungary throughout the day as events unfold on April 12. Polling stations open on Sunday at 6 a.m. and close at 7 p.m. The results should become clear by late Sunday evening.
06:00 a.m.—Political Analyst Says EU Wants Hungary’s Alternative Gone
In an interview for europeanconservative.com, Hungarian political analyst Zoltán Kiszelly says:
The question is whether the alternative that Prime Minister Viktor Orbán has presented so far can continue to exist, or whether the EU will move forward without it. In Brussels, it is clear that everything is being done to ensure that this alternative fails.
Read the interview here:
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