Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orbán’s Fidesz party came out on top in the European elections in Hungary on Sunday, the party’s weakest ever EU election result, as the opposition made gains.
The ruling Fidesz-KDNP coalition won the most seats in the European Parliament, securing 11 of the country’s 21 seats.
Despite looking like a win, Fidesz had only once before fallen below 50%, in 2004, when they were in opposition and garnered 47.4% of the vote.
Orbán declared victory over both the old and the new opposition, asserting that his party would prevail against any opposition in future elections.
He insisted that the results of the European elections sent a clear message: the Hungarian people reject candidates who oppose their country in Brussels.
Orbán’s party used to be part of the centre-right EPP group in the European Parliament but left over disagreements on the rule of law. It now sits with the non-affiliated group and seeks a new political home.
His main opponent, Péter Magyar, whose Tisza party came second with seven seats, could replace Fidesz as the EPP’s Hungarian member party. He described the results as “a political earthquake”.
“It has been a confrontation between lies and truth, propaganda and honest speech, corruption and clean public life, the East and the West, the past and the new force”, he declared.
Concerns over election fairness
Magyar expressed concerns over the elections not being fair, claiming that the government had spent tens of billions of euros on propaganda, according to Telex.
He questioned whether the State Audit Office of Hungary would investigate the origins of these funds from a party financing perspective.
He also criticised Fidesz MEPs Tamás Deutsch and András Gyürk, accusing them of failing to accomplish anything for the Hungarian people.