{"id":48327,"date":"2026-04-12T06:42:06","date_gmt":"2026-04-12T06:42:06","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/foreignnewstoday.com\/?p=48327"},"modified":"2026-04-12T06:42:06","modified_gmt":"2026-04-12T06:42:06","slug":"hungarians-vote-as-pm-orban-faces-toughest-election-challenge-in-years-elections-news","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/foreignnewstoday.com\/?p=48327","title":{"rendered":"Hungarians vote as PM Orban faces toughest election challenge in years | Elections News"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><br \/>\n<\/p>\n<div id=\"\">\n<p class=\"article__subhead\"><em>The parliamentary election could end Prime Minister Viktor Orban\u2019s 16-year hold on power.<\/em><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<div>\n<div class=\"article-dates\">\n<p><span class=\"screen-reader-text\">Published On 12 Apr 2026<\/span><span aria-hidden=\"true\">12 Apr 2026<\/span><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<div aria-live=\"polite\" aria-atomic=\"true\">\n<p>Polls have opened in Hungary\u2019s parliamentary elections with incumbent <a href=\"https:\/\/www.aljazeera.com\/news\/2026\/4\/11\/hungarys-viktor-orban-struggling-for-political-survival-ahead-of-vote\">Prime Minister Viktor Orban<\/a> facing his biggest electoral challenge after 16 years in power.<\/p>\n<p>Voting in the election for the 199-seat parliament started at 6am local time (0400 GMT) and is due to close at 7 pm (0500 GMT).<\/p>\n<section class=\"more-on\">\n<h2 class=\"more-on__heading\">Recommended Stories<!-- --> <\/h2>\n<p><span class=\"screen-reader-text\">list of 3 items<\/span><span class=\"screen-reader-text\">end of list<\/span><\/section>\n<p>Opinion polls over the last two weeks have shown Orban\u2019s Fidesz party trailing Peter Magyar\u2019s upstart centre-right opposition Tisza party by 7-9 percentage points, with Tisza at around 38-41 percent.<\/p>\n<p>Orban, a eurosceptic nationalist, has cast the election as a choice between \u201cwar and peace\u201d. During campaigning, the government blanketed the country with signs warning that Tisza leader Magyar would drag Hungary into Russia\u2019s war with Ukraine, something he strongly denies.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cI am looking forward to Sunday\u2019s election with the best hope,\u201d Orban told supporters in his birthplace Szekesfehervar.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cIf we know ourselves well, if we know our country well and if we know our own people well, then I must say Hungarians will vote for safety on Sunday,\u201d he added.<\/p>\n<p>Many Hungarians have however grown increasingly weary of 62-year old Orban, after three years of economic stagnation and soaring living costs as well as reports of oligarchs close to the government amassing more wealth.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cI am very excited but also very scared,\u201d Kriszta Tokes, a 24-year-old who sells postcards and trinkets in Budapest, told the Reuters news agency.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cI know that my future depends on this,\u201d she said, adding that she plans to leave Hungary if Orban wins.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<p><br \/>\n<br \/><a href=\"https:\/\/www.aljazeera.com\/news\/2026\/4\/12\/hungarians-vote-as-pm-orban-faces-toughest-election-challenge-in-years?traffic_source=rss\">Source link <\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>The parliamentary election could end Prime Minister Viktor Orban\u2019s 16-year hold on power. Published On 12 Apr 202612 Apr 2026 Polls have opened in Hungary\u2019s parliamentary&hellip;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":48328,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_lmt_disableupdate":"","_lmt_disable":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[36],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-48327","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-middle-east"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/foreignnewstoday.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/48327","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/foreignnewstoday.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/foreignnewstoday.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/foreignnewstoday.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/foreignnewstoday.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=48327"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/foreignnewstoday.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/48327\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/foreignnewstoday.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/48328"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/foreignnewstoday.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=48327"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/foreignnewstoday.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=48327"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/foreignnewstoday.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=48327"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}