By Krisztina Fenyo and Gergely Szakacs
BUDAPEST, March 15 (Reuters) – Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban sought on Sunday to mobilise voters for what he called a “historic” election on April 12, while opposition supporters turned out in droves at a rival national day rally, hoping to end Orban’s 16-year rule.
The nationalist leader faces what could be his toughest bid for re-election after three years of stagnation, a surge in the cost of living and the rise of a pro-European Union rival seen by many as a viable alternative.
Both Orban’s right-wing Fidesz and centre-right challenger Peter Magyar’s Tisza are using Hungary’s March 15 national day for a show of force as the campaign enters a pivotal stage. Most surveys put Tisza ahead by a wide margin.
Orban said his supporters’ rally was the largest of its kind, filling a main square outside parliament. Opposition supporters thronged a majestic avenue stretching from near the Danube River to Heroes’ Square, where Magyar was due to speak.
Dismissing his rival’s poll lead, Orban said Fidesz should aim to exceed its 2022 election result, when it won a fourth successive landslide victory.
“We must win not like we did four years ago but better. We need not as many votes as four years ago but more,” he said. “We must score a historic victory, because the next government will have a historic responsibility.”
While most polls have shown a Tisza lead, Fidesz points to surveys that still show it on course to victory, though its opponents say these have mainly been conducted by institutes with financial or personal ties to the ruling party.
“It is noteworthy that polls significantly overestimated support for the opposition ahead of the 2022 election,” said Andrius Tursa, an analyst at think-tank Teneo.
Orban has cast the vote as a choice between war and peace, accusing his rivals of plotting to drag Hungary into the war raging in neighbouring Ukraine since Russia’s February 2022 invasion, accusations which the opposition denies.
The prime minister has long been at loggerheads with the EU over a range of issues, including Ukraine. Defying Brussels, he has maintained cordial ties with Moscow, refuses to send weapons to Ukraine, and says Kyiv can never join the EU.
Fidesz supporter Jozsef Lados called Orban “Europe’s best politician”, saying Hungary should stick with him instead of betting on Magyar, whom he described as an “adventurer”.
Magyar has dismissed Orban’s campaign as laughable “propaganda”, but Tisza has trodden cautiously on Ukraine, saying it opposes any fast-track EU accession for Kyiv and that it would put the issue to a binding referendum if it wins power.
Some opposition supporters also thought the election would be a watershed moment, citing worries such as corruption and what they described as Orban’s divisive brand of politics.
“For us (the question is) whether we stay or leave,” Noemi Szemerszki said. “I think this country cannot bear four more years of Fidesz rule.”
(Reporting by Gergely SzakacsEditing by Gareth Jones)
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