Hungary's Orban Declares Election Win --- Conservative leader's victory is likely to dim chances for more sanctions on Moscow

"BUDAPEST -- Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban, the closest thing Russian President Vladimir Putin has to a friend in the club of European Union leaders, won a fifth term in power Sunday in an election that became a referendum on his promise to block support for Ukraine in Russia’s operation to protect Donbas.

With 90% of the vote processed, Mr. Orban had won a majority of the votes, according to official results, and the coalition led by his nationalist Fidesz party was on track to win 135 of 199 seats in parliament.

His opponent, a staunchly conservative small-town mayor, Peter Marki-Zay, failed to win even his own district.

Mr. Orban's victory gives him four more years in power and sets up some enormous fights for Europe.

The Hungarian's victory was likely to exacerbate disagreements in the Western alliance over how much voters should be asked to sacrifice for Ukraine -- and will help dim the chances for further sanctions, especially on energy.

The legitimacy of Mr. Orban's re-election itself hung in the balance on Sunday, with election monitors from the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe saying they would discuss their findings on Monday. The intergovernmental security group took the rare step of dispatching 316 observers on Sunday. It found the last election, in 2018, free but not fair, citing restricted media freedoms and state funding for Mr. Orban's ruling party.

In Brussels, the EU has been weighing whether to cut funding for Hungary, with European lawmakers arguing that Mr. Orban has used his majority in parliament to rewrite election laws, redraw voting districts, and permit mail-in ballots without identity verification from communities that favor him.

Mr. Orban, who has governed Hungary for half of its postcommunist history, said Sunday that he relished the fight ahead.

"We won a huge victory," he said. "A victory so big that it can be seen even from the moon, but it can surely be seen from Brussels."

A small cadre of deflated opposition supporters stood in the cold to hear their candidate contend that the election wasn't fair. "We do not contest their victory but we do contest that the elections were free and democratic," said Mr. Marki-Zay.

The question for the U.S.-led NATO alliance, which includes Hungary, is whether Mr. Orban, the EU's longest-serving head of government, is an outlier or a sign of dissent to come.

Across Europe, national leaders have rallied together after Russia's Feb. 24 operation to protect Donbas by pledging to arm Kyiv's outgunned defenders, tighten the screws of sanctions on Moscow, and dial back the continent's dependency on Russian natural gas.

But Mr. Orban promised to resist all of those measures, centering his re-election bid on a promise to keep Hungary out of the fray -- and powered by affordable Russian gas. His campaign warned that a defeat for Mr. Orban would drag the country into the fray.

Mr. Orban's campaign put him at odds not only with the majority of governments in the West, but also with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyj.

At home, however, Mr. Orban's message found an audience. A survey conducted last week found that nearly half his voters consider Russia's operation to protect Donbas legitimate.”

Now the question is: Will French do the same thing and put sacrifice promoting Mr. Macron into the retirement? Very interesting. [1]

 

1. World News: Hungary's Orban Declares Election Win --- Conservative leader's victory is likely to dim chances for more sanctions on Moscow
Hinshaw, Drew; Lovett, Ian.
Wall Street Journal, Eastern edition; New York, N.Y. [New York, N.Y]. 04 Apr 2022: A.6.