Catholic nation, or whether the center-right opposition will take over.
Many Christian voters were likely to cast ballots for Viktor Orban, a former prime minister and leader of the conservative Fidesz party, who recently re-established ties with the same Evangelical churches he had called "dangerous sects" in the past.
At a behind-closed-doors meeting ahead of the poll, Orban told pastors his cult accusations were a mistake, and that he now accepted Evangelical Christianity, a source with close knowledge about the talks told BosNewsLife.
"Asked whether he accepted Jesus Christ as Lord and Savior, Orban answered "yes", the source added.
EVANGELICAL VOTE
Opinion polls showed however that the Evangelical vote was not expected to change the outcome of the ballot with the ruling Hungarian Socialist Party and the Liberal Alliance of Free Democrats leading in surveys.
Socialist Prime Minister Ferenc Gyurcsany, a boyish former Communist youth boss, has said his party embraces all faiths and wants to create a modern society and free market economy.
But some Evangelicals remain skeptical as he represents a party that includes officials of the previous Communist regime when active Christians were persecuted.
Orban promotes more "Christian" "national" values and a protectionist economy. In a move that has worried foreign investors however, he warned his party would re-nationalize strategic companies including Budapest Airport, which was sold for $2.2 billion to British Airports Authority.
"WILD CAPITALISM"
It is part of a Fidesz campaign against what it calls "wild capitalism." During a television debate, watched by six of the eight million eligible voters, Fidesz leader Orban, 42, said it was crucial to first of all support Hungarian businesses.
"I don’t think that Hungarian entrepreneurs would say ‘no’ to our program of decreasing their taxes, which we are planning for the next four years, and changing the level of the minimum wage," he said. "We also were successful in decreasing the unemployment when we were in government," added Orban, who was prime minister between 1998 and 2002.
Whoever wins is expected to oversee the country’s efforts to introduce the euro currency by 2010. So far, Hungary has not met the euro-requirements, as it has the largest budget deficit within the European Union, which it joined two years ago.
Spending by the Socialists on social programs, pensions and state employees has been partly blamed for the problem. But Gyurcsany told television viewers that the Socialists have a plan to tackle the budget crisis. "We would like to be constructive, and to create business opportunities for investors," he said. "This is the best way to create jobs."
NOT IMPRESSED
But on the streets of Budapest, people were not impressed with the rhetoric. Some said Hungarian politicians spend more time quarreling in parliament than dealing with the every day concerns of ordinary citizens.
Disappointment with politics is the main reason 42-year-old house painter Zoltan Surman said he would not vote. "I already stopped voting 16 years ago, after the collapse of communism," he told BosNewsLife. "I am living on the streets already for eight years because of a divorce, and I don’t think anything will change, whoever I vote for."
Amid a close election race, both leading parties have pledged to increase welfare spending, while, at the same time, offering tax cuts worth billions-of-dollars. This has alarmed economists, as Hungary must cut its budget deficit in half before it can join the countries using the euro currency.
Sunday was the first round of parliamentary voting, with a second round scheduled for April 23rd in districts where no party’s candidate wins a majority. The voting was complicated by heavy flooding caused by melting snow swelling rivers.
SOLDIERS ACTIVE
Over 45,000 people, including soldiers, participated in shoring up dikes to ensure voters in flood stricken regions could participate in the country’s fifth parliamentary ballot since it abandoned Communism in 1989.
Parts of Budapest and nearly 200 other towns and villages were affected by record floods, but authorities managed to open thousands of polling stations.
Despite these efforts some young voters, like 22-year old voter Robert Fernandy, who studies economics, reluctantly voted saying Hungarian politicians are not mature enough to make sensible business decisions.
"I was born in Germany and it is another [way of conducting] politics here [than] in Germany and France. I can only laugh about it, it is not serious for me," he BosNewsLife. "They do not speak about the things that are important for the country. I want to hear about the economy and I want to hear [what they want to do] about the unemployment," he added.
ONLY WORDS?
"They only say: I want to create more jobs,’ like 400,000 jobs as [Prime Minister] Gyurscany said. But it is not possible to make 400,000 jobs," Fernandy said.
Analysts say that whoever comes to power would have little room to maneuver because of Hungary’s budget deficit, which is the highest in the European Union relative to the size of the economy.
First official results were expected later in the day. Voter-turnout was likely to be around 70-percent, roughly the same as during the last elections in 2002. (With BosNewsLife News Center. Parts of this BosNewsLife report also air on Voice Of America (VOA))
