Hungarian PM's party trails by record margin ahead of election
Photo: Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orbán (Getty Images)
Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orbán may lose power. His Fidesz party is trailing the opposition Tisza by 12 percent, two months before the elections, according to Reuters.
The Hungarian opposition party Tisza has significantly overtaken Viktor Orbán's ruling Fidesz for the first time. The gap has grown to 12 percentage points, putting the Hungarian Prime Minister's 16-year reign in jeopardy.
The poll was conducted on February 22-28. The interim results are as follows:
- 50% support the opposition Tisza party
- 38% support the ruling Fidesz party
- 20% of respondents are still undecided.
In January, the gap between the parties was only 10%. Over the course of a month, it has grown to 12%.
Parliamentary elections in Hungary will take place on April 12.
Orbán's attitude toward Ukraine
Prime Minister Orbán and his party oppose aid to Ukraine and are blocking its accession to the European Union.
Opposition leader Péter Magyar promises the opposite — to strengthen Hungary's orientation toward the EU and NATO and to help Ukraine.
The escalation of the conflict around Ukraine is linked to the approaching elections — Orbán is deliberately using the image of an external enemy as part of his election strategy.
It was against this backdrop that Hungary suspended diesel supplies to Ukraine in February, accusing Kyiv of deliberately stopping oil transit through Druzhba. In addition, Budapest blocked the allocation of a €90 billion EU loan to Ukraine and the 20th package of sanctions against Russia.
Ukraine rejected the accusations, explaining that the transit had been halted due to Russian attacks on infrastructure.
