Government seen keeping power as Hungarians vote

BUDAPEST, Apr 23 (Reuters) Hungarians voted briskly today in an election in which Prime Minister Ferenc Gyurcsany's Socialist-led government is expected to become the first to retain power since the return of democracy in 1990.

today was the second round of polling in the country of 10 million people, holding its fifth free election since the fall of communism and the first since Hungary joined the European Union in 2004.

The main issue of the campaign has been the economy, with Gyurcsany's Socialists promising reform if re-elected and the opposition warning that the country faced bankruptcy.

Turnout was 57.6 per cent by 1530 GMT, lower than the 61.7 per cent at the same stage in the first round on April 9.

Opposition leader Viktor Orban said his Fidesz party would have a chance of winning only if the final turnout was higher than the 67.8 per cent in the first round.

''If the turnout is high in the second round, we have a good chance, but this (high turnout) is a strict precondition,'' Orban, a former prime minister, said after casting his ballot.

Two weeks ago, his party's rural voters did not turn out in sufficient numbers. The right's vote was also split between the main opposition Fidesz and the smaller Hungarian Democratic Forum.

Voting stations opened at 0400 GMT and were due to close at 1700 GMT. First results were expected by 1900 GMT, with an almost complete picture due by 2100 GMT, excluding votes from Hungarians living abroad.

RED BUDAPEST Budapest, a stronghold for the Socialists and their Free Democrat allies, polled more heavily at a turnout of 62.3 percent by 1530 GMT.

''We've kicked out every government so far and I think it's finally time we give somebody another chance. Four years is just not enough to complete a programme,'' said voter Geza Sandor, 35, in Budapest's first district where Democrat Economy Minister Janos Koka was seeking election.

The Socialists and their Free Democrat allies won 113 seats in the 386-member parliament in the first round and opinion polls showed the two governing parties could win up to 208 seats overall, 10 more than at present.

Pollsters said the first-round split in the right-wing vote had made it unlikely Orban, 42, could return to power.

The Socialists led by Gyurcsany, a 44-year-old millionaire who took power in September 2004 after a party coup, have promised to reform the bloated state sector.

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

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 SHB BST2222