Orban’s ruling Fidesz keeps lead over opposition as election nears -surveys
Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban’s ruling Fidesz party has maintained its lead over an opposition alliance as a national election nears, according to latest opinion polls.
A Median poll, conducted in late March and published by website Hvg.hu on Wednesday, put support for the nationalist Fidesz ahead of the April 3 election at 40%, up from 39% in Median’s late February survey.
The six-party opposition alliance stood at 32%, with about 20% of voters still undecided.
In a separate survey by pollster Zavecz Research conducted between March 21 and 27 and published late on Tuesday, Fidesz had 39% support and the opposition alliance 36%. Among decided voters, Fidesz had 50% while the opposition stood at 46%, Zavecz said, predicting a close race.
Orban faces a united opposition for the first time since taking office in a 2010 election landslide. Its candidate for prime minister is Peter Marki-Zay, an independent who is currently mayor of Hodmezovasarhely, a town in southern Hungary.
Median said that among Fidesz voters, 37% believed Russia’s invasion of Ukraine was unjustified, while 43% said it was justified. Over the entire electorate, the respective percentages were 55% and 28%.
Orban has condemned Russia’s attack but avoided personal criticism of President Vladimir Putin.
He has also refused to allow the delivery of arms to Ukraine via Hungary and is strongly opposed to sanctions on Russian energy, saying that would wreck a domestic economy reliant on Russian gas and oil.