Govt seen holding power as Hungarians vote

Budapest, Apr 23: Hungarians went to the polls today with the Socialist-led government of Prime Minister Ferenc Gyurcsany looking set to make history by becoming the first to retain power since the return of democracy 1990.

Today was the second round of polling for the country's eight million eligible voters. Hungarians are voting in the fifth free election since the end of communism and the first since the country joined the European Union.

Voting stations opened at 0930 hrs IST and will close at 2230 hrs IST First results are expected by 0030 hrs IST, with an almost complete picture due by 0230 hrs IST, excluding votes from Hungarians living overseas.

In the first round of elections on April 9, when turnout was 67.8 percent, the Socialists and their Free Democrat allies won 113 seats in the 386-member parliament.

Opinion polls showed the two governing parties could win up to 208 seats, 10 more than at present.

Pollsters said that a split in the right-wing vote between the main opposition Fidesz party and the smaller Hungarian Democratic Forum, made the chance of a return to power by former Fidesz Prime Minister Viktor Orban, unlikely.

Campaigning has focused on economic issues, with the Socialists led by Gyurcsany, a 44-year-old millionaire who took power in September 2004 after a party coup, promising to reform the bloated state sector.

Fidesz backed tax cuts for businesses, which it said would boost economic growth and save the country from bankruptcy.

Economists say that whoever wins the election will have to cut the budget deficit, the biggest relative to the size of the economy in the European Union after four years of government overspending, or risk a financial crisis.

REUTERS