Swing to the right expected as Hungary goes to the polls

Budapest - Hungarian voters headed to the polls at 0400 GMT Sunday for the first round of general elections that opinion polls suggest will produce a huge swing to the right.

The 46-year-old former prime minister Viktor Orban is expected to lead his center-right party Fidesz back to power after eight years of Socialist government.

However, a big question remains over how many Hungarians will back the far-right nationalist party Jobbik, which won a surprise 15 per cent of the vote in Hungary's European Parliament elections last June.

Around 60 per cent of decided voters support Fidesz, roughly three times the level of support enjoyed by the Socialists, according to recent opinion polls.

Most polls have placed Jobbik a few percentage points behind the Socialists, although a couple suggested support for the extreme right might even outstrip that for the left.

Polling stations are scheduled to close at 1700 GMT.

Hungary has one of the world's most complex electoral systems, with elections taking place in two rounds, the second to be held on April 25.

In the first round, 176 members of parliament are chosen via a straightforward majority vote in their local constituencies.

Voters also put a cross next to the name of a preferred party, and a further 152 seats in parliament are apportioned on a proportional representation basis.

Smaller parties, such as the new green-liberal Politics Can Be Different, are hoping to pass the 5 per cent threshold needed to enter parliament.

The remaining seats in the 386-seat parliament are shared out via a complex system to compensate parties for votes received that would otherwise have been "wasted".

Given the size of lead Fidesz has shown in opinion polls, however, for the party not to emerge the clear winner after the first round of voting would represent a major upset.

Source: Earth Times.
Link: http://www.earthtimes.org/articles/show/318053,swing-to-the-right-expected-as-hungary-goes-to-the-polls.html.