BUDAPEST: Nationalist Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban faces a tough challenge with a united opposition in an unpredictable general election on Sunday, after a campaign dominated by Russia's war on neighbouring Ukraine.
The six main opposition parties are for the first time fielding a joint list, determined to roll back the "illiberal" revolution Orban's Fidesz party has pursued during its 12 consecutive years in office.
That has involved repeated confrontations with EU institutions, including over the neutering of the press and judiciary, and measures targeting the community.
On Saturday, opposition supporters braved rain and chilly temperatures in Budapest to hear the opposition alliance's candidate for prime minister, Peter Marki-Zay.
While admitting the election was "an uphill battle" given what he called "12 years of brainwashing" under Fidesz, he insisted the opposition alliance stood "at the gates of victory". Polls opened at 6 am local time and will close at 7 pm.
However, government spokesman Zoltan Kovacs says a definitive picture of results will likely only emerge between 11 pm and midnight.
Turnout is expected to be high, surpassing 70 per cent. Orban himself voted on Sunday morning at a school in a Budapest suburb and told reporters on the way out he was expecting a "great victory".
"It's a fair election'', he said, dismissing complaints that the process had been weighted towards Fidesz.
More than 200 international observers will be monitoring the vote for the first time.
The capital is favourable territory for the opposition and 75-year-old retiree Maria Rapcsak said that she had "voted for the alliance for change", adding: "I hope today we will put an end to Orban's corrupt pro-Putin politics".
However, the election will be decided in around 30 less-urban swing seats out of the 106 directly elected constituencies.
Marki-Zay has been criss-crossing these areas in recent weeks to reach voters directly and try to break through government "propaganda".
At his rally on Saturday, he cut an approachable figure, wading into the crowd to take selfies with supporters.
By contrast, Orban has been "hidden", with no open events apart from a final rally on Friday, says Andras Pulai of the opposition-leaning Publicus polling institute.
Instead, Orban preferred "closed events where he talked to his most loyal supporters".
Publicus' last pre-election poll, published on Saturday, put Fidesz and the opposition neck-and-neck, while other pollsters have given Fidesz a narrow lead. However, given the advantage Fidesz enjoys under the electoral system, "the opposition needs to have a three-to-four-point lead to win a majority" in the 199-seat chamber, Pulai points out. - AFP
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