BUDAPEST 8 Apr (ANA) - Voting is under way in Hungary, where the prime minister, Viktor Orbán, is seeking to win a third consecutive term.

 

After running a campaign almost exclusively focused on the threat posed by migration, Orbán’s Fidesz party is expected to win a majority in parliament. However, a late push for coordination among the opposition, as well a string of corruption scandals around the government has given Orbán’s foes a glimmer of hope.

 

Voter turnout in the first hours of voting was the highest since 1998. According to the National Election Office, 13.17% of eligible voters had cast ballots by 9am, while in 2006 turnout was 11.39% at the same hour.

 

Gergely Karacsony, the leading left-wing candidate for prime minster, claimed the high turnout was good news for those in favour of preventing Prime Minister Victor Orban from winning his third consecutive term.

 

Orbán, who  in the late 1980s as a young liberal calling for Soviet troops to withdraw from Hungary, has morphed into a rightwing nationalist over the years. He served one term as prime minister between 1998 and 2002, and was then in opposition for eight years until his Fidesz party won a two-thirds majority in parliament in 2010 and 2014.(ANA)

FA/ANA/8 April 2018-------