BUDAPEST: Prime Minister Viktor Orban demanded four more years at the steering wheel of Hungary’s “fast and bold racing car” yesterday at an election rally attended by hundreds of thousands of supporters.
Orban’s ruling centre-right Fidesz party is firmly on track to win the April 6 election, according to opinion polls, despite concerns among foreign investors and in the European Union about its unorthodox economic policies and some other measures.
Throngs of people waved national white, green and red flags as they headed through central Budapest to Heroes’ Square, where Orban shot to fame in 1989 by calling for the withdrawal of Soviet troops from then-communist Hungary.
“We have come here today to tell each other, the country and the world, that we seek four more years,” said Orban, sporting an orange tie, the trademark colour of Fidesz.
“Working together with you we have transformed Hungary. From a battered, sluggish old banger with a flat tyre we have built a reliable, fast and bold racing car,” he told the crowd.
To his supporters, Orban, 50, is a patriotic hero who defends Hungary’s interests against foreign encroachment. His critics accuse him of centralising power and filling key public sector posts with party loyalists.
A March survey by pollster Tarki put Fidesz at 38 percent of all voters, while a leftist opposition grouping had dropped to 16 percent, just ahead of far-right Jobbik. Reuters
