THE LEADER of Hungary’s centre-right Fidesz party has pledged to cut taxes, red tape and corruption in a move to kick-start the country’s economy and help neutralise far-right nationalism, after dominating the first round of a general election.
Viktor Orban also urged voters to use the second round of voting in a fortnight to give Fidesz the two-thirds parliamentary majority that it needs to ensure the passage of reforms and allow it to change a constitution that was drawn up after the fall of communism in 1989.
Sunday’s election saw Fidesz claim 206 of 386 seats in parliament, trouncing the Socialists, who had been in power since 2002 but who only secured 28 seats, just ahead of the far-right Jobbik party with 26 seats.
The liberal and environmentally-minded LMP party took five seats and the remaining 121 will be decided in voting on April 25th.
The Spanish EU presidency welcomed the victory of a “pro-European party” but voiced concern over the success of Jobbik, which entered parliament for the first time on promises to clean up politics and crack down on the “gypsy crime” and benefit abuse that it claims are ruining the country.
“The most important economic policy task is to improve the competitiveness of the Hungarian economy,” Mr Orban said of a country that was forced to take a €20 billion emergency loan from international lenders and impose tough spending cuts in return.
“Within a short time, Hungary must be made into the most competitive economic system of the region,” he added, identifying high taxes, stifling bureaucracy and rampant corruption as the main problems.
“In the focus of our economic policy is not austerity measures, but how to generate economic growth – this is the question. I cannot carry out any kind of budget rationalisation if at the same time we cannot put the Hungarian economy on a growth track.”
The European Union and the International Monetary Fund will keep a close eye on the sometimes populist and profligate Fidesz to ensure it is not spending more money than the crisis-hit country can afford.
Mr Orban hopes an overwhelming mandate will help him achieve his ambition.
“The second round of elections will be about unity. Will there be unity in Hungary or discord? The bigger the unity, the greater the success. The greater the success in the second round, the faster the recovery will be,” he said.
“The stronger mandate the next parliament receives, the more strongly the next government and parliamentary majority will be able to drag Hungary out of its tough situation.”
As the Socialists try to recover from a humiliating defeat and overhaul their party, Jobbik looks likely to be Fidesz’s most vocal challenger in the near future.
“We are not preparing to conduct peaceful and almost invisible politics,” said Jobbik leader Gabor Vona, who promised “ very distinct and very spectacular politics”.