The leader of Hungary’s united opposition, Peter Marki-Zay, has conceded defeat in his country’s April 3 parliamentary elections, a vote in which longtime nationalist Prime Minister Viktor Orban has claimed a landslide victory.
Marki-Zay, 49, charged that the win by Orban’s Fidesz party was due to its dominance of the country’s media space and its manipulation of state resources.
“I don’t want to hide my disappointment, my sadness…. We knew this would be an uneven playing field,” Marki-Zay told supporters after preliminary voting results were announced. “We admit that Fidesz got a huge majority of the votes. But we still dispute whether this election was democratic and free.”
Hungary’s central election committee said late on April 3 that with 98 percent of the votes counted, Orban’s Fidesz had 53.1 percent, followed by Marki-Zay’s six-party opposition alliance with 35 percent. Fidesz was also projected to win 88 of the 106 single-mandate constituencies.
In a late-night speech to supporters, Orban, 58, hailed his win, which he described as a “victory so big that it could be seen even from the moon.”
Radio Free Europe / Radio Liberty
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