BUDAPEST (LifeSiteNews) – Pro-life and pro-family Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orbán has won a fourth term as the Central European nation’s leader after his conservative Fidesz Party’s landslide success at the polls was announced Sunday.
58-year old Orbán fought off a six-party coalition aimed at unseating him to take a supermajority in Parliament, with Fidesz now holding 135 of the 199 available seats, just under 68 percent, and the opposition bloc taking just 56 seats.
Orbán, who has presided over Hungary for 12 years and is the European Union’s (EU) longest serving prime minister, will now rule for a further four, despite early polls predicting he would be ousted.
The prime minister was welcomed by a crowd cheering his name Sunday night as polling results showed his success. Addressing his supporters, Orbán said that they “have won a great victory – a victory so great you can see it from the moon and certainly from Brussels.”
“The entire world can see that our brand of Christian democratic, conservative, patriotic politics has won.”
“We are sending Europe a message that this is not the past – this is the future, our common European future.”
Orbán received messages of praise upon his re-election from conservative politicians and commentators, including France’s Marine Le Pen who said that “[w]hen the people vote, the people win.”
David Kurten, leader of the U.K.’s conservative Heritage Party, congratulated Orbán on Twitter following his win, supporting the Hungarian leader’s strong pro-family stance.
Congratulations to Viktor Orban on winning the Hungarian general election once again.
Unlike other Western leaders, he supports the traditional family, protects children from LGBTQQIAAPPP+ activists and opposes sending weapons to Ukraine.https://t.co/R9L4LDK0mn— David Kurten (@davidkurten) April 4, 2022
The six opposition parties, some of which purport to uphold conservative values while others align with the political left, had joined forces in an attempt to put aside their differences for the sake of defeating Orbán, ultimately failing to persuade the Hungarian people that Orbán is a “Hungarian Putin,” per their campaign posters.
Peter Marki-Zay, the supposedly Christian conservative leading the opposition effort, conceded Sunday night, saying that the group had done “everything humanly possible” to challenge Fidesz’s public support while accusing the party of basing its campaign on “hate and lies.”
“We will stay in this country, stand up for each other, hold hands, and won’t let each other go,” Marki-Zay said.
In his victory speech, Orbán noted that his party faced a broad array of political opponents, far beyond those on the ballot.
“This victory is one to remember, maybe even for the rest of our lives, because we had the biggest [range of opponents to] overpower. The left at home, the international left, the bureaucrats in Brussels, the money of the Soros empire, the international mainstream media, and even the Ukrainian president in the end,” Orbán said, alluding to Ukraine’s Volodymyr Zelensky, who criticized him for keeping Hungarian troops and weapons out of the war with Russia.
Hungary has also faced fierce opposition from within the EU over social and political issues; the European Parliament voted in March to withdraw funding to the country over its refusal to bow to the bloc’s pro-LGBT stance.
The EU criticized legislation recently enacted in Hungary known as the Child Protection Law, banning the promotion of homosexuality, “transgenderism,” and pornographic materials to minors in schools as well as cracking down on pedophilia.
Hungary held a referendum on the legislation on Sunday alongside the parliamentary election, asking citizens whether they thought schools should teach children about homosexuality and “sex change procedures” without parental consent, as well as the promotion of media content supporting the LGBT ideology.
The referendum was rendered unsuccessful, however, as over 50 percent of the votes cast were found to be invalid or otherwise spoiled.
While the referendum failed, the Child Protection Law still stands and is expected to be upheld by Fidesz.