Hungary election: Record high turnout with Orbán on verge of defeat

[0:00]It's not a fairy tale castle straight out of Disney, but the Hungarian Parliament, and today the very real arena between rival forces tearing at the democratic world. In one camp, the incumbent, Viktor Orban, could this champion of conservative nationalism win his fifth election victory? I'm here to win. I am here to win. Peter Magyar also here to win, but to govern effectively, he needs a big enough majority to undo some of the changes that have tilted the system in favor of the ruling party. If we were given a two-thirds mandate, we could more easily dismantle this system, tear apart this spiderweb which entangles our country. With so much at stake, it's not surprising that Hungary may be about to experience its highest turnout since the collapse of communism. I think it's our last chance to basically see anything vaguely resembling democracy in Hungary. Hungary needs a change. I would like if my daughter live in a in a free Hungary. The last 16 years was tragic because the government weaponized the media, so I had trouble speaking to you because because there's a lot of fear. Okay. Yeah, that's exactly. We prefer to be a more democratic and uh and free. I think in bigger cities is everything is clear, but I'm afraid about countryside. She's talking about villages like Pasto, where the governing party has always been very efficient about getting out the vote. It's vote. Hence these election watchers that we met. Oh, there should be no change. This is the only party since the change of regime that has kept its promises. But for many Hungarians, it's also about keeping a Prime Minister who has punched far above the weight of this small country on the global stage. We are a deterrent. They don't dare pull up with their mini vans to bring 10 people to vote like they usually do. Domestic issues like corruption and poverty may swing this election. But this vote has also been a proxy contest for the future of the European Union and well beyond. Not on the ballot paper, but on everyone's mind, this question. What kind of world do you really want to live in? Well, earlier, I spoke to Hungary's State Secretary, Balazs Hidveghi and asked if the high turnout spelled bad news for Viktor Orban. On the contrary, it's usually been good news for Fidez and I'm sure it is going to be good news this time too. People understand the stakes, the stakes are high. Uh we want to preserve Hungary as a peaceful country, we want to keep Hungary out of the Russia-Ukraine war. We want to maintain our uh national uh state and sovereignty. Uh and the opponent is ready to serve the demands of Brussels and Kiev. So it's a very high and very clear choice between the two. But but this whole line about, you know, serving the demands of Kiev, that's rubbish, isn't it? It's not at all. Ukraine wants a government in Budapest that would be open to support financially and also perhaps militarily their war against Russia. We maintain that this is not our war and Hungary's attempts to reach peace and to contribute to creating peace, uh, has been, you know, worldwide recognized. I think this is the right uh policy, this is the right um uh approach to this conflict. I wonder whether the reason why Mr. Orban doesn't speak more about his domestic record in Hungary is because when it comes to all the prosperity indicators, you're almost at the very bottom of the list in the European Union. The only one where you're at the top of the list is corruption. Is that the reason why Mr. Orban is so shy to talk about his own achievements? You're wrong on that, you're quoting perhaps the uh left-wing uh, you know, think tanks and organizations that had a political interest to attack patriotic governments. But what about the allegations of corruption against the government against your Prime Minister? There is no serious allegation against the Prime Minister about corruption. The Hungarian corruption index is sort of in the middle of the EU list. Hungary is a transparent country. It's a democracy, it's a rule of law state and wherever there is anything to question about an economic decision or a corruption case, the courts will actually uh take uh whatever they need to uh investigate it. So it's a stable democracy. It's only the opposition and the Brussels elite who would like to use the patriotic government who keep talking about corruption or keep talking about an economic slowdown, which is not the case. Finally, I mean, Orban has been in power now for 16 years, he was also in power for three years at the end of the last millennium. Four years. Four years. Okay, so that's 20 in total. That's a that's a chunk of time. I mean, you can understand why people want change, can't you? Listen, uh change is not necessarily bad, of course, but in the current situation, in the current situation of uncertainty internationally, of economic pressure, of the war just next to us. You know, we don't take risks or you shouldn't take risks. We tell people in this situation, in such a situation, you don't take risk, go for the for the certain uh option or the better option, uh a man who has already proven uh that he has a great leader, he's stable and for him, Hungary always comes first. That's what we need and he's going to win the elections today because of that reason. It's, thank you very much. My pleasure.