Orbán declares victory in Hungary elections
Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orbán declared victory in the country’s election on Sunday, Reuters reported.
Orbán will enter his third term as prime minister with his party controlling two-thirds of the Parliament — a feat that was secured by his anti-immigration message, according to Reuters.
His Fidesz-KDNP party alliance will likely win 133 of 199 seats. Orbán ran the Fidesz-led coalition government from 1999 to 2002 and returned to power in 2010.
{mosads}
“We have won,” Orbán told a crowd of cheering supporters, according to Reuters. “Hungary has won a great victory.”
With a two-thirds majority, Orbán — a right-wing nationalist who opposes European integration and often antagonizes Muslim migrants — will have the power to change constitutional laws.
His party’s supermajority could also embolden Orbán to push back on the European Union’s migrant policies.
Orbán is a vocal supporter of President Trump. And Rep. Steve King (R-Iowa) has touted Orbán’s beliefs that cultures shouldn’t be mixed.
Earlier this year, Rep. Andy Harris (R-Md.) said that the State Department should stop funding independent media in Hungary, calling it “opposition media” that has “distorted the record” of Orbán as prime minister.
Orbán has gone after Hungarian-American billionaire financier George Soros — a frequent target of American conservatives — for his Open Society Foundation that funds liberal nonprofit groups around the world, including in Hungary.
Last year, Hungary’s parliament passed a law that many saw as attempting to close the Soros-founded Central European University, a move that the U.S. condemned.
Copyright 2024 Nexstar Media Inc. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed..