Election Confirmed For 3 April With PM Orban Facing Major Challenge

Hungarian President Janos Ader has confirmed the date of the next legislative election as Sunday 3 April. Incumbent Prime Minsiter Viktor Orban is seeking a fourth consecutive term in office (his fifth overall), in the face of a significant challenge from a broad opposition alliance.

• Nearly all of Hungary's opposition parties from across the political spectrum are backing the 'United for Hungary' alliance and its leader Peter Marki-Zay in an effort to oust populist Fidesz Party leader Orban.
• Orban's gov't is attempting to direct the election to be divided along social conservative vs. social liberal lines, with a referndum on a number of LGBT issues being held on the same day as the legislative election. Having served his first term as PM from 1998-2002 as a centre-right Christian Democrat, Orban and his gov't in recent years have swung heavily behind social conservative populism, with Orban casting himself as the defender of 'traditional Hungarian values'.
• Opinion polling in recent weeks has shown Fidesz leading the United for Hungary alliance.