By John Friend
Viktor Orban, Hungary’s populist and nationalist prime minister, has won a fourth term in office after facing stiff opposition from a six-party opposition alliance led by Hungarian politician Peter Marki-Zay as well as far-left forces from around the world, including the nation-wrecking billionaire political activist and financier George Soros.
In voting that wrapped up yesterday, Orban’s Fidesz Party has secured over 50% of the vote according to preliminary results, which will translate to roughly 135 seats in parliament, a two-thirds majority. Opposition parties would have roughly 56 seats in parliament, including 7 seats won by a so-called “far-right” party known as Our Homeland, the first electoral victory for the party.
Orban’s decisive victory came as he faced severe criticism from the European Union (EU) and Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky, who have accused the independent-minded Hungarian leader of being pro-Russian. International election monitoring organizations have also chastised Orban, accusing him and his political apparatus of undermining democratic norms and principles and infringing upon the rights of minorities. The Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE) sent an Election Observation Mission to Hungary in the lead up to the election, and the team will remain there until April 15 to ensure the results are legitimate.
“We have such a victory, it can be seen from the Moon, but it’s sure that it can be seen from Brussels,” Orban told his supporters on Sunday, a clear reference to his opponents in the EU. “We will remember this victory until the end of our lives because we had to fight against a huge amount of opponents.”
Orban explained to his followers that they had prevailed against “the left at home, the international left all around, the Brussels bureaucrats, the Soros empire with all its money, the international mainstream media, and in the end, even the Ukrainian president,” highlighting the left-wing globalist forces who worked tirelessly to unseat the Hungarian populist.
“The entire world can see that our brand of Christian democratic, conservative, patriotic politics has won,” Orban defiantly stated.
Orban has clashed with the EU and other globalist institutions over immigration issues, including his refusal to grant refugee status to Middle Eastern asylum seekers, as well as his neutral stance in the latest conflict involving Ukraine and Russia. Orban’s Hungary has relied on Russia for energy imports and has refused to send weapons to Ukraine, which would alienate Russia and possibly make Hungary a target of Putin, according to Orban.
“This isn’t our war, we have to stay out of it,” Orban stated last week at a campaign rally just prior to the election.
Zelensky has publicly criticized Orban for his stance on Russia, saying Orban “is virtually the only one in Europe to openly support Mr. Putin.”
“There can be no Russian branches in Europe that divide the EU from within, that are trying to help Russia make as much money as possible even now,” Zelensky bemoaned recently. “Everyone knows very well who in the European Union opposes humanity and common sense, and who does nothing at all to help establish peace in Ukraine. This must stop, and Europe must stop listening to the excuses of Budapest.”
Orban’s decisive electoral victory has been viewed as an encouraging development by populists and nationalists the world over, and a setback in Europe for the war-mongers and globalists.
