PM Orbán would secure a landslide victory on the elections despite the clemency scandal

The Hungarian left-wing opposition have failed to capitalise on the ruptures during the past month caused by the scandal related to a pardon granted in the case of a child-abuse cover-up, according to a survey carried out by the Nézőpont think-tank.

Based on the telephone survey of 1,000 people in January and February published on Friday, Fidesz and its Christian Democrat ally would win the European parliament elections if the vote were held this weekend, bagging 47 percent of the votes as against 50 percent in January, translating into 13 seats — the same number they won in 2019.

The opposition’s combined support was 29 percent as against 30 percent in January. In 2022 their joint list garnered 36 percent of the total, Nézőpont said.

The leftist Democratic Coalition was steady at 14 percent, not sufficient for the party to keep the 4 seats it won in 2019. Centrist-liberal Momentum’s support dropped a percentage point to 7 percent in February, securing the party a single theoretical seat. The Socialists and the conservative Jobbik were each on 2 percent, according to the think-tank’s poll.

Meanwhile, radical right-wing party Mi Hazank and the satirical Hungarian Two-Tailed Dog Party each notched up 8 percent.

Among relative newcomer parties, the centrist Everyone’s Hungary People’s Party and Second Reform Age party each had 4 percent backing, just below the threshold for gaining EP mandates.

Read also: