Most polling stations closed and the vote count began in Hungary’s election on Sunday, after a very high turnout that could threaten Viktor Orban’s parliamentary majority.
Following an acrimonious campaign in which the rightwing nationalist prime minister projected himself as a savior of Hungary’s Christian culture against Muslim migration into Europe, all opinion polls had put his Fidesz party well ahead.
A strong victory could embolden him to put more muscle into a Central European alliance against the European Union’s migration policies. Orban, Hungary’s longest-serving post-communist premier, opposes deeper integration of the bloc.
Interim data at 1630 GMT showed voter turnout at 68.13 percent, exceeding final turnout in the past three elections.
A high turnout in a 2002 vote consigned Orban to eight years of opposition. In contrast, the turnout was only 61.7 percent in the last election, in 2014, which gave him a massive victory. (Reuters)
