Hungary to go to the polls early April

Reading Time: < 1 minute

Hungary will hold an election on April 3 when nationalist Prime Minister Viktor Orban will compete with an opposition alliance fronted by a conservative outsider, Hungarian President Janos Ader announced Tuesday afternoon. 

While some of Orban’s policies since he won an election landslide in 2010 have been popular, most notably his pro-family and anti-immigration positions, critics say his Fidesz party has meanwhile weakened Hungarian democracy, press freedom and rule of law.

The ideologies of the six parties who in late 2020 formed an anti-Orban alliance range from centre left to centre-right. The opposition’s prime ministerial candidate – elected in an opposition primary in the autumn – is Hodmezovasarhely mayor Peter Marki-Zay, a Catholic, conservative father of seven. On the announcement of the date Marki-Zay vowed to oust Orban’s “corrupt and greedy regime”.

In recent weeks Orban’s Fidesz party has announced a EUR 2.2 billion income-tax scheme rebate for families, pension and minimum wage hikes, and tax breaks for youngsters, swelling Hungary’s budget deficit in the process.

CET Editor

Recent Posts

Trump’s time bomb just exploded – oped

Trying to figure out the rationale behind Trump’s “trade revolution”?  Don’t bother, there isn’t one.…

2 hours ago

Liberation Day: the end of ‘America First’ – oped

Liberation Day is here. Trump has announced his tariffs targeting the US’s biggest trading partners,…

2 hours ago

CEE auto, steel at sharp end of Trump tariffs

US President Donald Trump’s new raft of global tariffs threatens to hammer the export-driven economies…

2 hours ago

US soldiers die during Lithuania training exercise

A total of three US soldiers were found dead while a fourth remains missing after…

3 days ago

Trump-Putin detente could revive Nord Stream 2

The US and Russia are discussing the potential reopening of the Nord Stream 2 gas…

3 days ago

Dodik dodges arrest warrant, surfaces in Moscow

Republika Srpska (RS) President Milorad Dodik announced that he had arrived in Moscow on Monday…

3 days ago