Polling stations opened yesterday in Hungary's first parliamentary elections since joining the EU, with economic concerns casting a shadow over a poll that could be decided by only a few votes.
Prime Minister Ferenc Gyurcsany's Socialists held a slight advantage over the conservative Fidesz party of former premier Viktor Orban ahead of the first round of elections yesterday, according to most poll estimates.
But this difference is within the surveys' margins of error, which means the outcome of the election could hinge on the two smaller parliamentary parties, who need at least 5 percent of votes to remain in parliament.
The Socialist coalition partner, the Liberal Free Democrats, are polling at 5 percent, while support for the conservative Hungarian Democratic Forum, a Fidesz partner from 1998 to 2002, is estimated at 3 percent.
The election outcome is likely to come only after a second-round runoff takes place on April 23, but yesterday's vote will crucially decide if either or both of the small parties manage to get enough votes to remain in parliament.
Polling stations opened yesterday at 6am and were to close at 7pm. More than eight million Hungarians were eligible to vote.
The election, which will decide the fate of all 386 seats in parliament, is shaping up to be a duel between Gyurcsany and Orban, two young and charismatic leaders who are seeking to make history.
If Gyurcsany wins, it will mark the first re-election of a governing party since the country's transition from communism in 1989, while Orban, who was prime minister from 1998 to 2002, could become the first premier to win two terms.
The 44-year-old Gyurcsany, who took the reins of power in September 2004 following the ouster of his predecessor Peter Medgyessy, is regarded as a saviour by the Socialists who in less than two years managed to close a double-digit lead by Fidesz in polls.
Gyurcsany was a communist youth leader in the late 1980s before becoming a millionaire businessman during the country's chaotic privatization era.
He now advocates compassionate capitalism, blending free markets and privatizations with a welfare system to help the poor and disadvantaged.
The 42-year-old Orban gained national recognition in 1989 when as a young, liberal firebrand he called for free elections and the expulsion of Soviet troops from the country.
He has since turned into a conservative and has become the undisputed leader of the Hungarian right.
Orban urges protectionist economic policies to shield Hungarian entrepreneurs from what he often calls "wild capitalism," and lashes out at the current government for serving the "foreign interests" of multinational firms.
Ideological differences aside, the next government may have little room to manoeuvre owing to a runaway public deficit that threatens to delay the adoption of the euro.
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