Addressing a rally of supporters in Budapest Sunday night as the results of Hungary’s national elections rolled in, returning Prime Minister Viktor Orbán hailed the vote, calling it a “decisive victory”.
Orbán’s comments came as the results rolled in from Sunday’s election, apparently confirming he would be leading the Hungarian government again for a third consecutive term — the fourth in 20 years.
Speaking in Budapest, Orbán said: “We have won… the high turnout left no room for doubts. A great battle is behind us, we’ve taken a decisive victory.”
Alluding to the election campaign in which Mr. Orbán’s Fidesz party focussed on promises to defend Hungary from mass migration and foreign influence, the Prime Minister said: “We created the opportunity to protect Hungary.”
The new super-majority enjoyed by Fidesz means the government will be able to push through the so-called “Stop Soros” bill, parliamentary spokesman János Halász said Monday. The Associated Press reports the new laws would force pro-mass migration NGOs to get government permits from abroad, have their income from foreign sources taxed, and even be banned from going five miles within Hungary’s borders.
As Breitbart London reported as the results rolled in, the stronger than expected result for Orbán will be seen as a bloody nose for Brussels, which has consistently criticised his leadership for refusing to accept EU-directed immigration resettlement.
Reaction to the victory outside of Hungary was mixed. President Obama-era foreign policy advisor and ambassador Ivo Daalder recognised the election as having dealt “another blow to liberalism” and called upon European leaders to “take action and impose real costs” to punish Hungary for voting for Orbán. Meanwhile, Poland’s deputy foreign minister and envoy to the European Union, Konrad Szymanski said the vote confirmed “Central Europe’s emancipation policy”, reports Reuters.
Explaining what this meant in practice, Szymanski — his government a close ally of Orbán’s Hungary — said it would be “Emancipation not directed at fighting anybody but at making Central Europe visible as a very constructive European and European Union partner”, reflecting the ambition of those nations not to withdraw from the European Union, but rather to reform it in their own image.
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