Hungarians will go to the polls this Sunday. Everything that has been politically sensitive recently is coming back into play in this election: the war, the flow of refugees and relations with the European Union. However, it does not seem to harm the current government, – writes cne.news.
Usually, most leaders do not reach the fifth term. Often they are somewhere in the middle. But according to opinion polls, incumbent Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orbán is likely to receive a fifth term on Sunday (his fourth in a row since 2010). However, the victory will not be as certain as before.
Hungarian voters who vote for the ruling Fidesz party say they have seen many positive things about Orbán. He brought the country out of the financial crisis. Unemployment is at a record low. He also constantly nurtured Hungarian patriotism, among other things, speaking out against “Brussels” (which became an abbreviation for the European Union in Hungary).
Traditional family
In recent years, an additional issue has added for Hungarians: the protection of children and the traditional family. Orban changed the main law and now the constitution of this country says: the father is a man and the mother is a woman. His government considered it necessary due to a change in the gender concept in the rest of the European Union.
Voters can also vote in a referendum on the law on sexual education of children. Last year, parliament voted in favor of what many EU countries call “anti-gay law.” This law prohibits homosexuality and transsexuality as attractive and sets rules for sex education in schools. The starting point of this law is undoubtedly the heterosexual family of father, mother, and children. In Hungary, other forms of family are possible – in the form of a registered partnership – but the government considers it its task to protect the traditional family. This is somewhat reminiscent of trends in Russia, and in Ukraine, under Yanukovych.
Some call such a policy on family and sexuality Christian, others conservative. It is clear that Hungary stands out sharply from the predominantly Western European fashion legislators. That is why the Prime Minister of the Netherlands, Mark Rutte, provoked Orbán last summer, saying that it was better for Hungary to leave the EU. It is true that no EU leader has said this since, but it has shown how sensitive the issue is. However, it seems that Fidesz will receive strong support for this law among voters in the country.
Public opinion
At the same time, there is great opposition in Hungary. The problem is that it has been fragmented since 2010. For the first time, the opposition has a common candidate for prime minister: Peter Marki-Zay. He is a Roman Catholic, the father of seven children, who is not far from the conservative Orban in social terms.
The country’s opposition points to corruption in Fidesz circles: big projects always carried out by the same companies. Opposition leaders also say they are hardly invited to public broadcasting in the country; the only voice they broadcast is the voice of the government. In addition, a bunch of eligible Hungarians from abroad sent by mail found somewhere in the country this week. This calls into question the fairness of this election. Finally, Orban accused of working too closely with Russian President Putin.
Orban condemned Russia’s attack on Ukraine, but refused to take part in Russia’s energy boycott. It also blocks the transit of “lethal weapons” to Ukraine. Propaganda theses from Russia on Ukraine have also repeatedly broadcast. Hungary is open to Ukrainian refugees, but is not equal to Poland in the number of people. Therefore, relations with other Visegrad countries (Poland, the Czech Republic and Slovakia) have been under strong pressure in recent weeks.
For Ukraine, the re-election of Orban is not a good sign. But after Ukraine’s apparent victory in the war with Russia, Orban’s rhetoric may change a little. Russia and Putin are becoming very toxic in the West, and it is unlikely that a healthy person, and especially a European politician, will want to have anything to do with it. However, let’s see …
