Schools close in Hungary with historic turnout

Special correspondent to BudapestHungary's legislative elections are already historic before the results are known. After weeks of messages highlighting them as decisive elections, the population has responded with massive turnout. At 5 p.m., two hours before the polls closed, turnout was 74.23%. This figure is already higher than the total turnout figure in all previous elections since 1998. Until now, the highest turnout was recorded in 2002, when it stood at 70.5% at the close of the polls. The latest data, corresponding to 6:30 p.m., places the figure at 77.8%.

give Tisza a wide leadAll independent polls give Tisza a wide lead, Magyar's party. Since leaving Fidesz two years ago, Magyar has managed to unite practically all opposition to Orbán's government, which has governed with absolute majorities for the last sixteen uninterrupted years.

However, analysts and citizens warn that nothing can be taken for granted before the official results are in. At the polling stations in Budapest, there are several groups of observers supervising the process today. The organization Tiszta Szavazás (Net Vote), which fights against electoral corruption, has issued a statement in which it assures that it has received reports of "organized transport" and "vote buying" in the cities of Debrecen, Pécs, and Kemecse. It also stated that in Dabas, a town south of Budapest, money had been distributed in front of a polling station.

Objective: control Parliament

Orbán has framed these elections as a referendum between “war or peace”. He assures that Magyar, whom he characterizes as a \u201ppet” of the “Brussels bureaucrats”, will drag Hungary into war against Russia, while a government of continuity guarantees a peaceful future for the country.

in rural areas there are many pro-Fidesz peoplethink tank European Council on Foreign Relations (ECFR).

"Everyone wants change"

In the early afternoon, on the esplanade in front of the majestic Hungarian Parliament, tourist groups mingled with about fifteen people setting up a structure of lights and speakers. "Nobody is organizing this, we are a group of private individuals... it's a techno festival, it's not political at all," explains one of the three men setting up portable toilets a few meters away. They are right in front of the Ministry of Construction and Transport, which is barricaded with metal fences and police officers. I ask them if they have voted and what their expectations are. He doesn't elaborate on the answer, which is quite concise: "Everyone wants change".

In the polling stations, the messages received are along the same lines. But one of the few who agree to answer (without giving their name) points to the reason: "Here in Budapest people are more liberal, but in rural areas there are many pro-Fidesz people". "I am an LGTBI person and I would really like to see Orbán out of government," he says. One of the targets of Viktor Orbán's government's ultraconservative crusade has been this group. "Everyone around me is very hopeful that Tisza will win, but I have my doubts," he admits.

A girl who has just voted at the same polling station is optimistic, but she's not entirely sure either: "I have a lot of hope, but I also have a strange mix of feelings. I'm scared... if Tisza doesn't win, it will be a disaster." And she points to a possibility that is in the air today in Budapest: "If the opposition doesn't win, perhaps people will rise up and take to the streets to protest".