Orban Party Suffers Shock Loss in Stronghold Before Hungary Vote

Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban’s Fidesz party suffered a shock defeat in a closely-watched mayoral race that may energize a fragmented opposition six weeks before a parliamentary ballot.

The by-election on Sunday in Hodmezovasarhely, a ruling-party stronghold of about 45,000 in southeast Hungary where Fidesz has ruled uninterrupted for the past two decades, showed Orban’s vulnerability when an otherwise fragmented opposition bands together behind a common candidate. Peter Marki-Zay trounced the Fidesz’s Zoltan Hegedus 58 percent to 42 percent amid a record turnout, according to preliminary results with 92 percent of the votes counted.

Orban, who became the first leader in the European Union to build an illiberal state modeled on Russia and Turkey, is seeking a third consecutive term in parliamentary elections on April 8. With polls showing his party’s support roughly equal to that of a fragmented opposition combined, the main question until Sunday was the size of Orban’s victory. Orban won a two-thirds parliamentary majority in 2010 and 2014, which allowed him to rewrite the constitution and appoint allies to head independent institutions.  

Source: Yahoo News