POLITICO’s Poll of Polls projects a comfortable lead for Prime Minister Viktor Orbán’s challenger, Péter Magyar, and his center-right Tisza party.
A large number of voters cast their ballots in the early hours of Sunday’s key election in Hungary, which could potentially spell the end of Prime Minister Viktor Orbán’s 16-year rule.
According to data from the Hungarian national election office, 38 percent of registered voters had cast their ballots by 11 a.m. In the previous parliamentary election in 2022, that figure stood at 25.8 percent at the same time.
POLITICO’s Poll of Polls projects a comfortable lead for Orbán’s challenger, Péter Magyar, and his center-right Tisza party. But polls have also diverged significantly and in Hungary’s electoral system, vote shares don’t necessarily equal final political weight.
Ballot boxes opened at 6 a.m., with the election office reporting a record 3.5 percent turnout within the first hour of voting. The polls will close at 7 p.m. and the first results are expected starting at 8 p.m.
The election office also reported receiving more than 293,000 postal votes by Sunday.