Hungarians elect EU representatives in a vote seen as a referendum on PM Orban’s popularity

Hungarians elect EU representatives in a vote seen as a referendum on PM Orban’s popularity

yes the polls here in Hungary opened at 6 o’cl in the morning which is a pretty early start and actually quite a lot of people have already been voting 1.88% turnout in the first hour that may not seem like a lot but it is uh higher than in past elections uh give perhaps have to see to what extent that has an impact on the overall turnout as the day progresses now hungarians are voting for European and Municipal elections that means here in the capital Budapest they’re voting for a new well for the mayor of the Hungarian Capital he’s long time he’s for a long time been seen as a a key opposition figure to the government of Victor Orban in all hungarians will be sending 21 MEPS to Brussels the fides ruling Coalition of Victor Orbin has 13 of those 21 seats as things stand it will be fascinating to see to what extent that evolves as the results um and the votes are cast to a certain extent Victor Orban has been demonstrating a bit of nervousness in this poll he’s been spending more than anywhere else in Europe on social media and billboards for example that’s perhaps a a sign of the degree of the challenge that he’s facing a surprise Challenge from a former member member of his own party Peter magia they held re rival um rallies over the past week here in Budapest scores of thousands of people participating in those uh it has to be said though very early days very early in the day to know to what extent that will have an impact on the vote itself however in the past Victor orban’s ruling governing Coalition of fides has had over 50% in the past three European elections I’ll have to wait and see of course to see whether he continues that run and Luke we’ve been watching Victor Orban cast his vote there as you’ve been speaking to us images coming into to us there from Hungary talk to us a little bit about what the campaign has been like there what have the main themes been leading up to the vote yeah well International geopolitics has very much interrupted and intervened in the elections here in Hungary of course Hungary shares a land border with Ukraine also has very strong ties with Vladimir Putin of Russia perhaps the strongest ties of all of the European union members are uh Victor orban’s ties with Vladimir Putin that as such one of the key issues has been one of the campaign themes has been the issue of no war the peace the so-called peace movement and that’s also having really an impact on the way that Hungary has a relationship with Brussels because of course the other main key issue has been the the issue of sovereignty from Brussels um for the past 20 years since joining the EU Hungary has been a net beneficiary every single year of EU funds but for the past couple of years uh they’ve been facing a suspension of 20 billion euros of EU funds that’s of course in many ways related to two issues that of the international geopolitical political scene Brussels rather annoyed with the ongoing and regularly used veto of Victor Orban in Brussels when it comes to Ukrainian issues but also of course the question of corruption those two issues then have been dominating the campaign have to wait and see of course to what extent uh Hungarian voters choose one or the other camp

Voters began casting their ballots in Hungary early Sunday to choose their representatives for the European Parliament in an election many see as a referendum on Prime Minister Viktor Orban’s popularity. “Hungarians will be sending 21 MEPs to Brussels,” said FRANCE24 journalist Luke Brown, reporting from Budapest. “Fidesz, the ruling coalition of Vikor Orban, has 13 of those 21 seats as things stand; it will be fascinating to see to what extent things evolve.”
#Hungary #Orban #European elections

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