Polls close in Hungarian elections; initial results expected later in the evening

By AP 3 April 2022, 8:46 pm

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Hungary's nationalist prime minister, Viktor Orban, center, and his wife Aniko Levai, left, cast their vote for general election in Budapest, Hungary, Sunday, April 3, 2022. Orban seeks a fourth straight term in office, a coalition of opposition parties are framing the election as a referendum on Hungary's future in the West. (AP Photo/Petr David Josek)

BUDAPEST, Hungary — Polls have closed in Hungary’s national election in which pro-Putin nationalist Prime Minister Viktor Orban us seeking a fourth consecutive term.

The contest is expected to be the closest since Orban took power in 2010, thanks to Hungary’s six main opposition parties putting aside their ideological differences to form a united front against his right-wing Fidesz party. Voters were electing lawmakers to the 199-seat parliament.

There are no exit polls, but the first results are expected later this the evening. Opinion polls in the last days of the race gave Orban’s Fidesz a slight advantage over the Western-looking coalition of opposition parties.

Opposition parties and international observers have pointed out structural impediments to defeating Orban, highlighting pervasive pro-government bias in the public media, the domination of commercial news outlets by Orban allies, and a heavily gerrymandered electoral map.

The Organization For Security and Cooperation in Europe sent a full observation mission to Hungary to monitor today’s election, only the second time it has done so in a European Union country.