Orban: We have secured a historic victory, created the opportunity to protect Hungary

We have secured a historic victory and created the opportunity to protect Hungary, Prime Minister Viktor Orban told his supporters on Monday, a day after the parliamentary elections in which he secured a two-thirds majority and won a third consecutive term.

Orban’s national-conservative party Fidesz, the main party in the ruling center-right coalition, is on track to secure 133 seats in parliament out of 199, based on 95.1 percent of counted ballots, meaning it will have a “supermajority” and be able to implement constitutional changes.

>>>‘Dictator and hero’ Orban winner of parliamentary elections

– We have secured a historic victory, created the opportunity to protect Hungary, Orban said while greeting his supporters.

“We have won,” he said, adding that the high turnout in the elections dispelled all doubts that the ruling coalition would not succeed.

“A great battle is behind us,” Orban said, warning that Hungary is not yet where it wants to be, but has “started on the chosen path” and promised: “We will walk this path together.”

>>> Orban: Immigration will be the end of Europe

Orban thanked voters “for all the years they have supported us.” He also thanked Hungarians beyond the borders who voted in the elections “and helped protect the homeland.”

He expressed gratitude for the support of Jaroslaw Kaczynski, leader of the ruling Polish party Law and Justice, and Polish Prime Minister Mateusz Morawiecki.

The result is “a victory for government measures over the past eight years and sends a clear message to Brussels,” said Csaba Fodor, an analyst at the Nezopont Institute, on public radio Kossuth.

Another political analyst, Zoltan Kiszelly, pointed out that predictions that high turnout would favor the opposition were incorrect.

>>> Orban experienced a ‘psychologically significant’ defeat in local elections

It was also a mistake to predict that the votes of voters in Budapest would be decisive, as it was thought that primarily villages and smaller towns were favorable to Orban.

– Wherever opposition parties used new tactics thinking they would win over voters, it was in vain, Kiszelly believes.

In the opposition, disappointment and resignations

During the campaign, Orban constantly frightened voters that a victory for the opposition would bring “chaos” to the country due to a flood of migrants, which he successfully prevented, and that it would take away Hungarians’ ownership of their land.

The left and the far-right Jobbik party counted on voter fatigue, which turned out to be incorrect.

>>> Orban: We have spent more than one billion euros to protect the border; we expect half the amount from EU funds

The opposition ran a campaign accusing the government of clientelism, warning of poor public service performance, weak purchasing power, and the emigration of young people from Hungary despite a low unemployment rate of only 3.8 percent.

The day after the elections, opposition leaders admitted defeat.

Hoping to transform his radical nationalist party into a moderate force, Gabor Vona announced his resignation as leader of the Jobbik party. Resignations due to poor electoral results were also announced by the leadership of other opposition parties, such as the socialists. Party leader Gyula Molnar stated that the party acknowledges the will of the voters and considers itself responsible for the election outcome.

>>> Orban’s approach creates the greatest inequality in Europe

The small opposition party Egyutt stated that its party leadership would also resign.

Peter Juhasz, leader of Egyutt, said he was “disappointed” with the overall success of the Hungarian opposition. The Egyutt list did not receive the five percent of votes needed for direct entry into parliament.

Leader of the Momentum movement, Andras Fekete-Gyor, said: “We cannot congratulate Fidesz; we cannot congratulate Viktor Orban,” insisting that the Prime Minister and his party have committed “political crimes” in Hungary over the past eight years, especially in the last five.

>>> ‘Stop Soros’: New Orban law as part of anti-immigration campaign

“He has instilled fear in the hearts of people who are afraid,” said Fekete-Gyor, leader of Momentum, which, like Egyutt, failed to cross the electoral threshold for entry into parliament.

Jobbik secured 26 seats, the Socialist-Parbeszed alliance 20, the Democratic Coalition 9, the Green Party LMP 8, and Egyutt one seat. Independents won one seat as did representatives of the German minority.