100,000 Hungarians protest Prime Minister Orban’s re-election
Tens of thousands of people have flocked to the streets in Hungary's capital, Budapest, to protest the election of Prime Minister Viktor Orban to a third consecutive term in office.
An estimated 100,000 protesters marched on the parliament on Saturday, chanting “We are the majority,” and calling the re-elected prime minister “the dictator.”
The demonstrators accused Orban of rigging the vote, and denounced what protest organizers said was an unfair election system.
“We want to live in a state of law, where checks and balances are present. We want to live in a real democracy,” said Viktor Gyetvai, a protest organizer. “If the demands are not met, then we cannot live in this country. This is our last chance to do something for this country.”
A day before the rally, organizers took to Facebook to call for a recount of ballots and a comprehensive modification of the election law in the country. They also urged all opposition parties to be more cooperative.
The Saturday march was held amid a strong police presence, with riot officers at the ready, rows of police vans on the streets nearby, and a helicopter overhead. The demo remained peaceful, however.
With 99 percent of the votes counted, data published by the Hungarian National Election Office last Sunday showed that Orban’s Fidesz Party had won around 50 percent of the votes and secured 133 seats — a tight two-thirds majority — in the 199-seat parliament.
The right-wing party placed itself far ahead of the nationalist Jobbik Party, which garnered 19 percent, and a Socialist-led center-left alliance, with 12 percent.
Alleged irregularities at some polling stations across the Central European country as well as an IT system outage at the National Elections Office prompted some opposition parties to challenge the election results and demand a recount.
Observers from the Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe (OSCE) said the election was marked by “intimidating and xenophobic rhetoric, media bias and opaque campaign financing.”
There was also “a pervasive overlap of state and ruling party resources,” the OSCE said in a report, rejected by Orban’s ruling party.
Hungary’s incumbent is deemed a controversial figure among European Union leaders, having built his platform on a hard-line anti-immigration position. Orban proposed to construct a giant wall to stop the flow of refugees into Europe in 2016. The 54-year-old Hungarian leader has also described Muslim refugees as “invaders.”
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