BUDAPEST: Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban is expected to win his third consecutive term and fourth overall in Sunday’s national vote but opposition leaders were encouraged by a high early turnout.

Polls agree on the triumph of Orban’s right-wing nationalist Fidesz party and its allied Christian Demo­crats, but a splintered opposition and Hungary’s complex electoral system make the exact margin of victory hard to predict.

In all, 199 seats in parliament are up for grabs. Opposition parties are keen to make sure that Orban’s bloc does not sweep to a super-majority in which the autocratic leader could easily push through constitutional changes.

Orban has campaigned heavily on his unyielding anti-migration policies, though voters say they are more concerned with poverty, government corruption and the country’s underfunded health care system.

According to the National Election Office, 2.35 million voters had cast ballots by 11 am, or 29.93 per cent of those eligible.

Published in Dawn, April 9th, 2018