BUDAPEST: Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban’s ruling coalition has suffered its second surprise by-election defeat in seven days amid a nation-wide drop in his party’s poll ratings, results showed on Monday.
Sunday’s election in a district of Sopron, a city in western Hungary that is traditionally a stronghold of Orban’s Fidesz party, was won by the opposition Socialists with 46 per cent of the vote.
Fidesz, in power nationally in European Union member state Hungary following a landslide election victory in 2010, saw support for its candidate almost halve to 33 per cent, while the far-right party Jobbik scored 13 per cent.
The previous weekend saw Fidesz lose power in the town of Dunafoldvar 95 kilometres south of the capital to an independent candidate backed by the Socialists, in Orban’s first by-election defeat in his current term of office.
Experts say that if the losing streak continues, it could lead to difficulties for Fidesz in the next general elections likely to be held in April 2014, although they caution against extrapolating by-election results nationally.
In opinion polls, Fidesz’s ratings have fallen in recent months although it remains in front, with the latest survey by pollsters Median giving it just 22 per cent against 16 per cent for the Socialists.
Hungary is currently in recession, with output forecast to drop 1.3 per cent this year, and is in negotiations with the EU and the International Monetary Fund about a stand-by credit line of around 15 billion euros (Dh71.79 billion).
