Viktor Orban wins Hungarian elections as support for far-right party Jobbik increases

Anna Sonny, 11 April 2014

Viktor Orbán has won a convincing election victory and will govern for a second term as Hungary’s Prime Minister. His centre-right party Fidesz won 46% with most of the votes counted, but will have 66% of seats in parliament, while the centre-left opposition alliance only managed 25% of the vote. The far-right party Jobbik came in third, with 21%.

This is the first time since the fall of communism in 1989 that a centre-right government will govern Hungary for two successive terms. The Fidesz party campaigned on a strong economic record. Last year saw economic growth and a decline in unemployment; the budget deficit was also kept below 3%, which meant the EU lifted the Excessive Deficit Procedure (EDP) against the country, a sign that its economy was performing well.  Orbán made sure Hungarians felt this economic improvement at home by introducing a flat rate personal income tax of 16% – one of the lowest in the EU – and lowering household utility rates.

But election campaigning itself was dominated by the party; after his sweeping victory in 2010, Orbán audaciously changed Hungary’s constitution, curtailing the authority of the constitutional court by overturning earlier rulings, and by tightening the government’s grip on the media. Regulatory control is held by the news media council, all of whose members were appointed by the Fidesz-dominated parliament for nine-year terms.

The centre-left opposition, who never quite recovered from their defeat in 2010, have accused Orbán of harming free speech and curtailing civil liberties. Orbán has often been regarded by the EU as a recalcitrant authoritarian, flouting the bloc’s criteria for democracy and rule of law.

But the EU in turn has been criticised for not keeping Hungary in check, and it seems it will not be able to; the Prime Minister has taken his victory as a strong mandate to continue with what his government has started.

Jobbik’s performance in the polls is worth mentioning; in the 2010 elections the party won 15.9% of the vote – this year it was higher than was expected, at 21%. The only other far-right party on the continent that has performed better is the Switzerland People’s Party, who won 26.6% percent of the vote in the 2011 federal elections. Jobbik has been described as anti-semitic, fascist, anti-Roma and vehemently demands Hungary’s withdrawal from the EU.

Despite his nationalist, Eurosceptic tendencies, it seems the EU is willing to settle with Orbán as a safer alternative to Jobbik.