Hungary's Prime Minister Viktor Orban was predicted to cruise to victory in elections Sunday after four turbulent years that have seen him labelled both as saviour and autocrat.
Polls indicate that the only questions were whether Orban, 50, can retain his two-thirds parliamentary majority and if the far-right Jobbik might beat the wobbly centre-left opposition alliance into second place.
"I know we are favourites," Orban said at a final rally on Saturday.
"But the match starts at 6:00 am (0400 GMT) with the score nil-nil. What matters is what happens between 6:00 am and 7:00 pm."
Surveys in 10-million-strong Hungary put the Fidesz party, created by Orban and other like-minded young student liberals in the dying days of Communism in the late 1980s, on 46-51 percent.
The centre-left opposition alliance, riven by divisions and hobbled by new election rules, were trailing badly on 21-31 percent, with the anti-Roma and anti-Semitic far-right Jobbik on 15-21 percent.
Orban has made most of the super-majority he won in 2010, with a legislative onslaught shaking up everything from the central bank to the constitutional court in the EU member state.
The fate of the media has sparked particular alarm abroad, with state outlets merged into one tame entity, independent publications starved of advertising and all under the close eye of a new watchdog.
Many of these reforms have been written into a new constitution, meaning that even if the opposition were to win, it would need a two-thirds majority to change them.
"The Internet is where you to go to find out what is really happening in Hungary," Aranka Szavuly, a freelance journalist who was fired from state media in 2011, told AFP.
- Socialist shambles -
Orban says the changes are aimed at turning Hungary into a "race car" after eight years of economic and political Socialist mismanagement had reduced it to an "old banger".
In addition he has claimed credit for an improving economy, with Hungary having repaid an emergency IMF loan, the recession over and unemployment and inflation down.
But this too is a sham, critics say, with nationalist rhetoric and unorthodox economic policies scaring away foreign investors while lining the pockets of his cronies.
The opposition alliance was only formed in January, and Orban has been able to depict its hapless leaders -- Attila Mesterhazy and former prime ministers Gordon Bajnai and Ferenc Gyurcsany -- as proven failures.
In addition, they have been unable to match football-mad Orban's ability to connect with ordinary people and to give the impression of being a regular Joe.
For Laszlo Lengyel from the Penzugykutato Institute think-tank, Orban is "a real political animal".
The left has also been hurt by state media's extensive reporting ahead of the election on allegations of corruption by a senior Socialist figure.
Orban is helped by a recent revamp of the electoral law making it harder for the opposition to put up billboards and rigging the system, it says, in Fidesz's favour.
The opposition, however, has been fighting to the last, trying to get people out to vote -- a high turnout would work in their favour -- and saying the voter surveys are wrong.
"I don't care about the polls, people are afraid of expressing their views," Mesterhazy told AFP on Saturday.
"I believe I will be prime minister in a few days."
Hungary’s Prime Minister Viktor Orban was predicted to cruise to victory in elections Sunday after four turbulent years that have seen him labelled both as saviour and autocrat.
Polls indicate that the only questions were whether Orban, 50, can retain his two-thirds parliamentary majority and if the far-right Jobbik might beat the wobbly centre-left opposition alliance into second place.
“I know we are favourites,” Orban said at a final rally on Saturday.
“But the match starts at 6:00 am (0400 GMT) with the score nil-nil. What matters is what happens between 6:00 am and 7:00 pm.”
Surveys in 10-million-strong Hungary put the Fidesz party, created by Orban and other like-minded young student liberals in the dying days of Communism in the late 1980s, on 46-51 percent.
The centre-left opposition alliance, riven by divisions and hobbled by new election rules, were trailing badly on 21-31 percent, with the anti-Roma and anti-Semitic far-right Jobbik on 15-21 percent.
Orban has made most of the super-majority he won in 2010, with a legislative onslaught shaking up everything from the central bank to the constitutional court in the EU member state.
The fate of the media has sparked particular alarm abroad, with state outlets merged into one tame entity, independent publications starved of advertising and all under the close eye of a new watchdog.
Many of these reforms have been written into a new constitution, meaning that even if the opposition were to win, it would need a two-thirds majority to change them.
“The Internet is where you to go to find out what is really happening in Hungary,” Aranka Szavuly, a freelance journalist who was fired from state media in 2011, told AFP.
– Socialist shambles –
Orban says the changes are aimed at turning Hungary into a “race car” after eight years of economic and political Socialist mismanagement had reduced it to an “old banger”.
In addition he has claimed credit for an improving economy, with Hungary having repaid an emergency IMF loan, the recession over and unemployment and inflation down.
But this too is a sham, critics say, with nationalist rhetoric and unorthodox economic policies scaring away foreign investors while lining the pockets of his cronies.
The opposition alliance was only formed in January, and Orban has been able to depict its hapless leaders — Attila Mesterhazy and former prime ministers Gordon Bajnai and Ferenc Gyurcsany — as proven failures.
In addition, they have been unable to match football-mad Orban’s ability to connect with ordinary people and to give the impression of being a regular Joe.
For Laszlo Lengyel from the Penzugykutato Institute think-tank, Orban is “a real political animal”.
The left has also been hurt by state media’s extensive reporting ahead of the election on allegations of corruption by a senior Socialist figure.
Orban is helped by a recent revamp of the electoral law making it harder for the opposition to put up billboards and rigging the system, it says, in Fidesz’s favour.
The opposition, however, has been fighting to the last, trying to get people out to vote — a high turnout would work in their favour — and saying the voter surveys are wrong.
“I don’t care about the polls, people are afraid of expressing their views,” Mesterhazy told AFP on Saturday.
“I believe I will be prime minister in a few days.”
