Interesting figures: Hungarians living in Western Europe ‘immune’ to Fidesz

election voting hungarians abroad fidesz electoral law
Photo: depositphotos.com

The European Parliamentary elections are rapidly approaching with only 26 days left. In this article, we look at the support for Fidesz, which is in government for the fourth time with a two-thirds majority, among Hungarians living abroad.

Since hundreds of thousands of Hungarians live in Western Europe, as always, it will be possible for those who want to cast their vote abroad to enter their names in the register of the foreign representation of their choice.

Hungarian voters living abroad or staying abroad on polling day have until 16:00 on 31 May to enrol in the register of the foreign representation where they wish to vote in the European Parliament elections on 9 June, Telex reports. So far, more than 10,000 Hungarian voters have indicated that they would like to vote at a foreign representation, but experience so far shows that most applications will be received in the last week of May.

Ever since Hungary has been able to participate in EP elections, Fidesz has always done exceptionally well in the Hungarian polling districts. The distribution of votes from foreign representations differs significantly, with Fidesz doing much worse in consular polling stations every time since 2004. According to Telex, the same is true for another party, the Democratic Coalition (DK), which is the biggest opposition party, led by former PM Ferenc Gyurcsány and his wife Klára Dobrev.

Votes for Fidesz abroad throughout the years

FIDESZ, Orbán, politics, Hungary
Photo: www.facebook.com/FideszHU
  • In 2004, barely 2,000 people voted at representations abroad. At that time, Fidesz was a few percentage points behind its national list result.
  • In 2009, Fidesz was above 56 percent nationally, while in the foreign representations they received “only” 50 percent.
  • By 2014, the number of voters in foreign representations had further increased, and so had the gap between the national and foreign results of the governing party. More than 6,000 people voted, with Fidesz winning 45 percent of the vote in the delegations, compared to 51.5 percent in Hungary.
  • In 2019, the number of voters at the foreign representations increased dramatically compared to the previous year, with 17,539 votes cast. Only 41 percent of the votes went to Fidesz, while the party’s overall national result was above 52 percent.

According to Telex, the same trend can also be observed in domestic parliamentary elections, with Fidesz and DK faring much worse in foreign representations.

The reasons for the relative unpopularity of Fidesz and DK among Hungarians working or studying in the West cannot be fully understood. However, according to Telex, it may be related to the fact that in the years of the 2008 crisis or the emigration wave that gained new strength after 2011, the heads of the country’s governments were called Ferenc Gyurcsány and Viktor Orbán.

This year, it will be interesting to see whether there will be any political actors who will make a political offer to the Hungarian voters in Western Europe and thus mobilise them.

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