{"id":6005,"date":"2026-04-12T07:36:59","date_gmt":"2026-04-12T07:36:59","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/pronews.in\/index.php\/2026\/04\/12\/hungarians-vote-as-pm-orban-faces-toughest-election-challenge-in-years\/"},"modified":"2026-04-12T07:36:59","modified_gmt":"2026-04-12T07:36:59","slug":"hungarians-vote-as-pm-orban-faces-toughest-election-challenge-in-years","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/pronews.in\/index.php\/2026\/04\/12\/hungarians-vote-as-pm-orban-faces-toughest-election-challenge-in-years\/","title":{"rendered":"Hungarians vote as PM Orban faces toughest election challenge in years"},"content":{"rendered":"<div>\n<p><em>The parliamentary election could end Prime Minister Viktor Orban\u2019s 16-year hold on power.<\/em><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<div aria-live=\"polite\" aria-atomic=\"true\">\n<p>Polls have opened in Hungary\u2019s parliamentary elections, with incumbent <a href=\"http:\/\/www.aljazeera.com\/news\/2026\/4\/11\/hungarys-viktor-orban-struggling-for-political-survival-ahead-of-vote\">Prime Minister Viktor Orban<\/a> facing his biggest electoral challenge after 16 years in power.<\/p>\n<p>Voting in the election for the 199-seat parliament started at 6am local time (04:00 GMT) and is due to close at 7pm (17:00 GMT) on Sunday.<\/p>\n<section>\n<h2>Recommended Stories <\/h2>\n<p><span>list of 3 items<\/span><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li><span>list 1 of 3<\/span><a href=\"http:\/\/www.aljazeera.com\/news\/2026\/3\/23\/eu-calls-for-clarification-after-hungary-accused-of-leaking-info-to-russia\">EU calls for clarification after Hungary accused of leaking info to Russia<\/a><\/li>\n<li><span>list 2 of 3<\/span><a href=\"http:\/\/www.aljazeera.com\/news\/2026\/4\/2\/orban-constantly-vetoes-europe-braces-for-hungary-election\">\u2018Orban constantly vetoes\u2019: Europe braces for Hungary election<\/a><\/li>\n<li><span>list 3 of 3<\/span><a href=\"http:\/\/www.aljazeera.com\/news\/2026\/4\/7\/vance-heads-to-budapest-to-shore-up-orbans-support-before-sunday-vote\">Vance visits Hungary to shore up Orban\u2019s support before Sunday vote<\/a><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p><span>end of list<\/span><\/section>\n<p>Opinion polls over the last two weeks have suggested Orban\u2019s Fidesz party trailing Peter Magyar\u2019s upstart centre-right opposition Tisza party by 7 to 9 percentage points, with Tisza at about 38-41 percent.<\/p>\n<p>Orban, a eurosceptic nationalist, has cast the election as a choice between \u201cwar and peace\u201d. During campaigning, the government blanketed the country with signs warning that Tisza leader Magyar would drag Hungary into Russia\u2019s war with Ukraine, something he strongly denies.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cI am here to win,\u201d said Hungary\u2019s Prime Minister Orban after voting \u2060at a \u2060polling station \u2060in the capital Budapest.<\/p>\n<p>Many Hungarians have, however, grown increasingly weary of 62-year-old Orban after three years of economic stagnation and soaring living costs, as well as reports of oligarchs close to the government amassing more wealth.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cI am very excited but also very scared,\u201d Kriszta Tokes, a 24-year-old who sells postcards and trinkets in Budapest, told the Reuters news agency.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cI know that my future depends on this,\u201d she said, adding that she plans to leave Hungary if Orban wins.<\/p>\n<p>Former government insider Magyar, 45, burst onto the scene just two years ago, amassing support against the backdrop of economic stagnation, despite an electoral system skewed in favour of Fidesz.<\/p>\n<p>In a final push in the eastern town of Miskolc on Friday, Magyar said: \u201cThis will be a referendum \u2026 about our country\u2019s place and our country\u2019s future.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cI think it\u2019s important that there really be a new era, a new, liveable Hungary,\u201d Daniel Pasztor, a pensioner, 60, told the AFP news agency at a Magyar rally in Miskolc city in northeastern Hungary on Friday.<\/p>\n<p>Attila Szoke, a 55-year-old taxi driver, at an Orban rally in Hungary\u2019s second largest city, Debrecen, told AFP, \u201cIt would be really bad for Hungary if Tisza win.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>According to the National Election Office, the first preliminary results are expected soon after polls close.<\/p>\n<p>But if the race is close, the winner might not be declared until ballot counting is finished next Saturday.<\/p>\n<h2 id=\"foreign-interference\">Foreign interference?<\/h2>\n<p>There are also fears of foreign interference in the elections.<\/p>\n<p>United States Vice President JD Vance visited Budapest earlier this week to rally with Orban and attacked the alleged interference of \u201cBrussels bureaucrats\u201d. He said Trump has promised to bring US \u201ceconomic might\u201d to Hungary if the party of Orban, a \u201ctruly strong and powerful leader\u201d, secures victory.<\/p>\n<p>The vote is being closely watched in Brussels, with many European Union peers criticising Orban, a friend of Russian President Vladimir Putin and a close Trump ally, over what they say is an erosion of Hungary\u2019s democratic rule, media freedom and minority rights.<\/p>\n<p>For Hungary\u2019s eastern neighbour, Ukraine, Orban\u2019s defeat could mean the unblocking of a 90-billion-euro ($105bn) EU loan vital for Kyiv\u2019s war effort. It would also deprive Russia of its closest ally in the bloc.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>The parliamentary election could end Prime Minister Viktor Orban\u2019s 16-year hold on power. Polls have opened in Hungary\u2019s parliamentary elections, with incumbent Prime Minister Viktor Orban facing his biggest electoral challenge after 16 years in power. Voting in the election for the 199-seat parliament started at 6am local time (04:00 GMT) and is due to &#8230; <a title=\"Hungarians vote as PM Orban faces toughest election challenge in years\" class=\"read-more\" href=\"https:\/\/pronews.in\/index.php\/2026\/04\/12\/hungarians-vote-as-pm-orban-faces-toughest-election-challenge-in-years\/\" aria-label=\"Read more about Hungarians vote as PM Orban faces toughest election challenge in years\">Read more<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":6006,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[8],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-6005","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-travel"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/pronews.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6005","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/pronews.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/pronews.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/pronews.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/pronews.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=6005"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/pronews.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6005\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/pronews.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/6006"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/pronews.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=6005"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/pronews.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=6005"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/pronews.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=6005"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}