Fidesz in Hungary

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Fidesz Stable at the Top in Hungary

May 28, 2007

(Angus Reid Global Monitor) - Public support for the opposition Hungarian Citizens Party (Fidesz) remains high in the European country, according to a poll by Tarki. 31 per cent of respondents would support Fidesz in the next election to the National Assembly, up one point since March.

The governing Hungarian Socialist Party (MSZP) is second with 19 per cent, followed by the Hungarian Democratic Forum (MDF) with five per cent, and the Alliance of Free Democrats (SZDSZ) with three per cent.

Hungarian voters renewed their National Assembly in April 2006. The MSZP and the SZDSZ secured 210 of the legislative branch’s 386 seats, securing a full term for Socialist prime minister Ferenc Gyurcsany. Fidesz, led by Viktor Orban, elected 164 lawmakers. In June 2006, Gyurcsany introduced a fiscal "austerity package" of state subsidy reductions and tax increases, aimed at lowering the country’s fiscal deficit.

In September, Gyurcsany was criticized after Hungary’s state radio aired portions of an audiotape—which had been recorded in May—in which he told members of the MSZP that his administration "lied throughout the past one and a half or two years" about the state of the country’s economy in order to win re-election. The prime minister’s words sparked a two-week riot that threatened to end his government.

Earlier this month, National Police chief Laszlo Bene and Budapest Police chief Peter Gergenyi were fired, and justice and law enforcement minister Jozsef Petretei tendered his resignation, after some police officers were accused of serious offences, including rape, theft and bribery.

Gyurcsany discussed the situation, saying, "The recent events, regardless of the legal outcome, first prompted a political debate which has become a wider social debate because they have dented the confidence in the police." Albert Takacs, a former deputy ombudsman for human rights, was appointed to supplant Petretei.

Polling Data

Which party would you vote for in the next legislative election?

	May 2007	Mar. 2007	Feb. 2007
Hungarian Citizens Party (Fidesz)	31%	30%	26%
Hungarian Socialist Party (MSZP)	19%	19%	20%
Hungarian Democratic Forum (MDF)	5%	4%	4%
Alliance of Free Democrats (SZDSZ)	3%	3%	2%

Source: Tarki
Methodology: Telephone interviews with 1,000 Hungarian voters, conducted from May 7 to May 14, 2007. Margin of error is 3.1 per cent.