Gulyas: High turnout ‘win for democracy’

Speaking after voting officially ended on Sunday, Gergely Gulyas said Hungarian democracy was always robust whenever the “civic-Christian Democrat-centre-right government” held office. The high turnout, he added, gave the new parliament a strong mandate.

Most polling stations have already closed, he said, and the rest were expected to finish processing voting soon after.

Gulyas thanked all voters who participated in the election, regardless of their party preference, and the “tens of thousands” of election volunteers.

Some 100,000 pro-government activists worked in the past days to mobilise as many voters as possible, he said.

He also thanked the opposition for its proposal to organise the referendum on child protection on the same day as the general election.

Regarding the results, Gulyas said the forecasts “give us cause for optimism, but we will only announce the results once every single vote is counted,” he said.

Deputy Prime Minister Zsolt Semjen thanked Hungarians living beyond the borders for their “faithfulness to the nation”, adding that many more participated in the ballot than four years ago.

Turnout 67.8 pc at 6.30pm

By 6.30pm on Sunday, 67.8 percent of Hungary’s voters, 5,216,424 people, had cast their ballots in the general election, the National Election Office (NVI) said.

Turnout at 6.30pm was highest (72.49pc) in Vas County, in western Hungary, and lowest (62.19pc) in Borsod-Abauj-Zemplen, in the north. Turnout in Budapest was 72.35 percent.

Turnout at 6.30pm in the last general election four years ago was 68.13 percent.