Extreme Right Party Likely to Do Well in Hungarian Elections
Hungarians are set to vote in the first round of national parliamentary elections on Sunday, April 11.
Polls indicate an extreme right-wing party, Jobbik (an abbreviation for Movement for a Better Hungary), will pick up roughly 17 percent of the vote across Hungary, thereby potentially making it the leading opposition party. Jobbik is polling as high as 30 percent in poorer, rural areas.
Recent polls are showing the nationalist, centre-right Fidesz party will win 59 percent of the vote.
The ruling Socialist party is presently in a politcal dead heat with Jobbik, with 16 percent of the Hungarian electorate likely to vote for them. The party’s support has dwindled significantly as the country has been hit hard by the economic downturn which began in late 2008. The government was forced to seek a $25 billion loan from the International Monetary Fund and the European Union and introduce economic austerity measures which did not go down well with the population. A number of corruption scandals have also damaged the party’s support.Jobbik has been particularly adept at capitalizing on populist issues, such as the growing dissatisfaction with the political class and widespread animosity towards the Hungarian Roma population. The party stirs anti-Semitic sentiments as well by warning against foreign money (read Israel and American Jews) anxious to get its hands on Hungarian resources.
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