Orban’s ruling Fidesz keeps lead over opposition as election nears -surveys

FILE PHOTO: Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban gestures as he delivers his annual state of the nation speech in Budapest, Hungary, February 12, 2022. Slogan reads “Let’s go forwards, not backwards!”. REUTERS/Bernadett Szabo/File Photo

March 30, 2022

(Reuters) – Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban’s ruling Fidesz party has maintained its lead over an opposition alliance as a national election nears, according to latest opinion polls.

A Median poll, conducted in late March and published by website Hvg.hu on Wednesday, put support for the nationalist Fidesz ahead of the April 3 election at 40%, up from 39% in Median’s late February survey.

The six-party opposition alliance stood at 32%, with about 20% of voters still undecided.

In a separate survey by pollster Zavecz Research conducted between March 21 and 27 and published late on Tuesday, Fidesz had 39% support and the opposition alliance 36%. Among decided voters, Fidesz had 50% while the opposition stood at 46%, Zavecz said, predicting a close race.

Orban faces a united opposition for the first time since taking office in a 2010 election landslide. Its candidate for prime minister is Peter Marki-Zay, an independent who is currently mayor of Hodmezovasarhely, a town in southern Hungary.

Median said that among Fidesz voters, 37% believed Russia’s invasion of Ukraine was unjustified, while 43% said it was justified. Over the entire electorate, the respective percentages were 55% and 28%.

Orban has condemned Russia’s attack but avoided personal criticism of President Vladimir Putin.

He has also refused to allow the delivery of arms to Ukraine via Hungary and is strongly opposed to sanctions on Russian energy, saying that would wreck a domestic economy reliant on Russian gas and oil.

DATE AGENCY FIDESZ OPPOSITION UNDECIDED

Late March Median 40 32 20

March 21-27 Zavecz 39 36 19

March 23-25 Zavecz 41 39 16

March 16-18 Republikon 41 39 16

March 2-11 IDEA 40 37 11

Feb 18-24 Republikon 40 39 16

Feb 22-26 Median 39 32 20

Jan 31-Feb 9 IDEA 38 34 13

Feb 2-10 Zavecz 38 36 20

Jan 20-25 Republikon 36 34 22

Jan 4-14 IDEA 39 37 10

Dec 4-7 Median 39 34 13

Dec 9-14 Republikon 33 36 24

Nov 2-12 Zavecz 37 41 14

Nov 2-3 Nezopont 56 42 2

Oct 25-29 Republikon 32 38 30

Oct 11-19 Zavecz 35 39 23

Sept 29-Oct 4 Median 37 37 17

Oct Szazadveg 50 44 6

Sept Zavecz 37 38 23

Sept 20-21 Nezopont 53 45 N/A

Aug 23-25 Nezopont 52 46 N/A

(Reporting by Anita Komuves and Krisztina Than; editing by John Stonestreet)

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