anti government protests, exit polls showed late Sunday, October 1. Incumbent Budapest Mayor Gabor Demszky received roughly 51 percent of the votes in the municipal elections in Hungary, which are being viewed as a measure of support for the embattled prime minister, who has been under intense street pressure to resign, after revelations he admitted last month to lying to the public about the economy.
The situation has raised concerns among churches and right wing groups about morals in Hungary’s post-Communist politics. Many former Communists linked to a regime when Christians and dissidents were persecuted, are still in parliament and government, they claim.
Sunday’s municipal elections follow two weeks of sometimes violent anti-government protests that erupted after Prime Minister Ferenc Gyurcsany admitted lying about the state of the economy. His comments to a meeting of his Socialist party were leaked to the Hungarian media, sparking outrage.
Gyurcsany has said he will not resign, and rejected the notion that the local election would be considered a referendum on his government. Some opinion polls show that at least a small majority of voters agree the prime minister should not resign.
LOSING GROUND
Analysts say the Socialist-led government is expected to lose some ground in towns and
villages nationwide, but the loss will be less than the opposition has suggested.
Gyurcsany has said he will press ahead with an economic austerity program, aimed at slashing Hungary’s huge budget deficit – the biggest in the European Union.
A pensioner Aranka Rittinger Tamasne said she and her husband support the government. "When he said lying, he did not mean: ‘I am lying.’ But he meant, all politicians and all parties are lying to the people," she told BosNewsLife. "He admitted to have lied, and we think that was very honest, and it does not disturb us, because he now wants to do something good for Hungary, and we have to give him the chance to finish it."
Because of Sunday’s mandatory campaign silence, protesters who have assembled outside Parliament every day for the past two weeks were not allowed to demonstrate, but were convening after polls closed for music and food.
FIDESZ SUPPORTERS
Many are supporters of Fidesz, Hungary’s largest center-right opposition party. 52-year-old Fidesz voter Viktor, a broke entrepreneur who refused to give his last name, said the outcome of the municipality ballot will show whether the government still has legitimacy.
"I think we can treat this as a referendum, we can consider this as a referendum [about the government]," he complained. "But I think whoever comes to power, nothing will change here, as the government has lead Hungary towards a deep hole."
He says he is not sure anyone in government can overcome Hungary’s economic difficulties. Several evangelical churches, including the Agape church movement, have said they are praying for a revival in Hungary.
The country was long the leader in investments and spreading democracy in the region, but that all changed, analysts say. Hungary is now among the countries with the highest number of suicides in the world, something churches want to change with prayers and what they call "revival meetings."
