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Central Europe
May 31, 2019 www.intellinews.com I Page 12
Ruling parties cruise to European Parliament election victory in Poland and Hungary
bne IntelliNews
Poland’s ruling party Law and Justice (PiS) com- fortably won the election to the European Par- liament in Poland, scooping 46.01% of the vote, results from 90% of election commissions across the country showed on May 27.
It was a similar story in Hungary, where ruling Fidesz garnered 52.3% of the votes, which se- cured the right-wing party 13 of the 21 seats for Hungary. Voter turnout was 43.4%, the highest since Hungary joined the EU in 2014, but below the 50.5% seen across Europe.
Fidesz was widely expected to perform strongly, having scored its third supermajority in the do- mestic parliament in the last general election.
But the result for PiS was much better than most polls published ahead of the election and constitutes a major setback to the opposition. The European Coa- lition – an umbrella name of five centrist and centre- left parties – won just 37.87% of the vote as its hopes of winning a premium for overcoming differences in the name of defeating PiS were all but dashed.
A record-high turnout of 45.42% – compared to 23.8% in 2014 – did not help the opposition, despite expecta- tions that it would. Neither did sounding the alarm over PiS’ illiberalism or the support of major media.
The future of the European Coalition appears uncertain now and the group’s prospects of winning the general election in the autumn have also diminished considerably.
PiS, on the other hand, has regained momentum after a disappointing run-up to the vote. The rul-
ing party struggled to respond to a documentary film about paedophilia cases in the Polish Catho- lic Church – PiS’ close political ally – that went viral to millions in Poland.
A number of publications in opposition media uncovering shady businesses of top PiS figures, such as chairman Jaroslaw Kaczynski or the Prime Minister Mateusz Morawiecki, also failed to scratch the ruling party’s overwhelming popularity.
“We have won and let that make us work hard ahead of the general election when the decisive battle for the future of our homeland will take place,” Kac- zynski told the enthusiastic crowd on election night.
In Hungary, Fidesz’ victory was never in doubt, but the results will lead to a reshuffling of the opposition landscape in the run-up to the municipal election in the autumn. Four opposition parties managed to gain eight seats, slightly above forecast, with two parties outperforming and three falling behind the 2014 results.
Fidesz received 1.78mn of the 3.3mn votes, which was the highest in a European election for the party but 1mn less than at the last parliamentary election in 2018.
Hungary’s illiberal prime minister turned the European Parliament elections into a referendum on migration and the future of Europe.
Democratic Coalition (DK), the party headed by former prime minister Ferenc Gyurcsany looks set to become the second largest party and the larg- est opposition force.