FOR the third consecutive election, Viktor Orban’s illiberal Fidesz party has won firm control of the Hungarian Parliament. With almost all of the results counted from the vote on April 8th, Fidesz appears likely to have won a two-thirds super-majority, with 133 of the chamber’s 199 seats—enough to alter the country’s constitution all by itself. Jobbik, a nationalist party that is now tacking to the centre, came second with 26 seats, and a Socialist-led coalition finished third, with 20. Most of the remainder were divided between small liberal and left-wing parties, which in many places split the anti-Fidesz vote. Turnout was 69%.
The high turnout had initially caused excitement among the opposition. Many hoped that it heralded a possible repeat of a mayoral by-election in the Fidesz stronghold in Hodmezovasarhely in southern Hungary, where strong voter participation swept a single opposition candidate to power in February. Instead, the strong mandate won by Fidesz in the national election seems to be evidence of the party’s organisational powers.