The conservative Fidesz-KDNP party alliance enjoys a comfortable lead over Hungary’s opposition parties with just seven weeks until the country’s general election, the latest polling has revealed.
According to a Real-PR 93 survey, 54 percent would vote for the currently ruling parties compared to 41 percent for the joint six-party opposition.
“The balance of power between the ruling parties and the left-wing coalition has been stable for months, with no significant changes,” the polling agency commented. “Forty-nine days before the parliamentary elections, the Fidesz-KDNP can count on the support of the majority of the party voters who are voting, which is currently just as much as 54 percent at the time of our survey last December.”
Support for the coalition of opposition parties has fallen by four-percentage points from December, with the drop off largely attributed to the protracted joint list-building of the opposition, the unsuccessful referendum initiative of the left and the weak campaign performance of opposition leader Péter Márki-Zay.
There are fundamental differences in the party preferences of the capital and the rural population: the former are mostly opposed to the current government, the latter are mostly supportive.
Fifty-three percent of party voters in the capital would vote for the left-wing coalition against the 39 percent support for the Fidesz-KDNP, a gap of 14-percentage points. There is an even wider difference in rural areas, but reversed in favor of the government: 38 percent support the opposition compared to 57 percent of the pro-government voters.
Another significant difference between urban and rural areas is that of the smaller parties, the satire Two-Tailed Dog Party exceeds the 5 percent entry threshold in Budapest with 6 percent, however its support in the countryside only stands at 1 percent.
Hungarians head to the polls on April 3.
