Pollsters expect 5 parties to clinch EP mandates

Presenting their findings, heads of the Alapjogokert Kozpont, the Nezopont institute, Magyar Tarsadalomkutato, Real-PR 93 and Szazadveg agreed that the runner-up was likely to be the Tisza party followed by the alliance of the Democratic Coalition (DK), the Socialists and Parbeszed, with the radical Mi Hazank (Our Homeland) and the Two-tailed Dog party (MKKP) bringing up the rear.

Nezopont head Agoston Samuel Mraz said the pollster’s survey, conducted on a 1,000-strong sample between May 20 and 22, found that Fidesz-KDNP had the support of 47 percent of voters, while 24 percent supported the Tisza party, 9 percent the DK-Socialist-Parbeszed alliance, and Mi Hazank and MKKP stood at 7 percent each. Other parties “have no chance of getting in”, he said.

While turnout is notoriously difficult to forecast, it is expected to be similar to that of previous elections, Mraz said. The last EP election mobilised 43 percent of voters, while 48 percent turned out for the last local election, he said.

Similarly, Alapjogokert has found that the ruling parties’s support was the strongest (47 percent), with Tisza at 26 percent, the DK-Socialist-Parbeszed group at 8 percent, and Mi Hazank and MKKP at 6 percent each.

Gyula Juhasz of Magyar Tarsadalomkutato cited a larger survey conducted over 3 weeks that probed the opinions of 4,000 voters, saying that the results showed Fidesz-KDNP’s “enormous” lead growing as the elections drew near, and stood at 51 percent at the time of polling. Meanwhile, Tisza polled at 25 perrcent, DK-Socialists-Parbeszed at 8 percent, while Mi Hazank and MKKP were teetering near the parliamentary threshold, at 4-5 percent, he said.