Parliament re-elected János Áder for another five-year term as president of Hungary. Fully 170 deputies cast their votes in the secret ballot, and all votes were valid. Áder, the candidate of Fidesz-KDNP, garnered 131 votes, while former data ombudsman László Majtényi, supported by the opposition parties save for Jobbik, had 39 votes. Áder was elected in a second round with a simple majority of votes, after the first round had been rendered inconclusive by neither candidate receiving support by two-thirds of all deputies in the 199-strong national assembly. After the vote, Prime Minister Viktor Orbán congratulated the re-elected president, who will begin his second term on May 10.

Áder was first elected president on May 2, 2012. He earlier served as house speaker and as MEP of the Fidesz party. Áder is the fifth head of state since Hungary’s transition to democracy in 1989-90. Under Hungary’s constitution, the president “embodies national unity, safeguards the democratic operation of the state structure” and serves as Commander in Chief of the Armed Forces of Hungary. The president can serve a maximum of two terms. </s> BUDAPEST, Hungary (AP) — Hungary’s president has been re-elected by lawmakers for a five-year term in the second round of voting in parliament.

Janos Ader, nominated by Prime Minister Viktor Orban’s governing Fidesz party, on Monday defeated Laszlo Majtenyi, a former ombudsman for data protection nominated by the left-wing opposition. Ader won by 131 votes to 39, with 29 abstentions.

Hungary’s Basic Law, as the Constitution is called, allows the president, a mostly ceremonial post meant to embody national unity, to serve for a maximum of two terms.

The 57-year-old Ader is a former parliamentary speaker and member of the European Parliament. The 66-year-old Majtenyi currently heads the Eotvos Karoly Institute, a liberal think tank.

Ader has often spoken out on issues related to environmental protection and ensuring the global water supply. </s> Hungarian President Janos Ader delivers his speech in the foreground of Speaker of the Parliament Laszlo Kover during the plenary session of the unicameral Hungarian Parliament in Budapest, Hungary, Monday, March 13, 2017, when the deputies elect the President of Hungary for the next term of five years. Janos Ader is up against the candidate of the opposition coalition Laszlo Majtenyi for the post. (Szilard Koszticsak/MTI via AP) </s> Janos Ader, a member of the Fidesz party along with Prime Minister Viktor Orban, was re-elected this week. In his speech to parliament, he quoted a Hungarian poet, saying: "If we don't have a homeland, then we don't exist." File Photo by John Angelillo/UPI | License Photo

March 13 (UPI) -- Hungarian President Janos Ader was re-elected by parliament to a second, five-year term, defeating a challenger his party claimed was backed by George Soros.

In the balloting, 170 of 191 members of parliament voted in the two rounds of the election. The first round required a two-thirds majority.

Members of parliament voted in two rounds to re-elect Ader, a member of the Fidesz party, headed by Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban.

The ruling right-wing Fidesz-KDNP coalition delivered 131 votes for Ader in the first round of the election -- two short of the required supermajority -- with opposition parties combining for 39 votes for challenger Laszlo Majtenyi.

The second round required a simple majority, and Ader defeated Majtenyi by 131 to 39, with the DK opposition party abstaining.

Prior to the casting of ballots, both candidates gave a 15-minute speech to parliament. Majtenyi thanked those ministers who had supported him, and jokingly noted that he had not extended thanks to George Soros, the Hungarian-born billionaire who has financed left-wing and social justice movements around the world through his Open Society Foundations. He went on to say that "the state has succumbed to corruption" and must return to the rule of law.

Ader talked of the accomplishments of his first term, including the Serbian government accepting his apology for war crimes committed by Hungarian military personnel in WWII. He went on to detail his participation in the fight against climate change, and closed by quoting a Hungarian poet named Janos Arany: "If we don't have a homeland, then we don't exist. We won't have oxen or sheep, we won't have homes or land. We will not be ourselves, because a homeland is built from these things. Now the question is, do we want the homeland to live, or not?" </s> April 8 (UPI) -- Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orbán was projected to win a fourth consecutive term Sunday as his Fidesz party won 133 out of 199 Parliament seats in nationwide elections.

Hungarian voters handed a super majority to Orbán, who campaigned on a platform that was skeptical of the European Union and opposed to immigration.

On thousands of billboards across the country, the Fidesz party put up a campaign ad that included a long line of migrants with a picture of a large "STOP" sign, reinforcing a major issue of concern for voters and highlighting the party's hardline stance against more open immigration policies advocated by some EU leaders.

"We scored a decisive victory," Orbán told his supporters. "We have received an opportunity, created an opportunity to be able to defend Hungary."

The decisive win was seen as a blow to Hungary's other parties, leading to the resignations of the chairman of the far-right Jobbik party, as well as the president of the Socialist party.

Orbán and Fidesz's victory was praised by right-wing leaders across Europe, including the France's Marine Le Pen and Netherlands' Geert Wilders.

Meanwhile, Orbán's opponents fear his win will put too much power in the hands of a leader who they accuse of trying to undermine democratic institutions.

"If he wins a two-thirds majority, it will lead to the complete collapse of the opposition and a very dangerous scenario for the future of Hungary," said Dr. Tóth Csaba, an analyst at the liberal Republikon Institute, told The New York Times. </s> BRUSSELS (UrduPoint News / Sputnik - 03rd July, 2019) Four politicians are running for the position of the European Parliament's president in the upcoming Wednesday election, the legislative body said in a statement.

"Four candidates are standing to become Parliament President in tomorrow's election, scheduled to start at 09.00 [07:00 GMT]," the European Parliament said on Tuesday.

The list of the candidates includes Ska Keller (the European Free Alliance, Germany), Sira Rego (the European United Left/Nordic Green Left, Spain), David-Maria Sassoli (Progressive Alliance of Socialists and Democrats, Italy) and Jan Zahradil (Alliance of Conservatives and Reformists in Europe, the Czech Republic).

"Electing its President is the first act of the newly constituted Parliament. The outgoing President Antonio Tajani will preside over the proceedings, assisted by eight tellers selected by lot on Tuesday at the opening of the session," the statement stressed.

The reshuffles in key EU bodies take place following the European Parliament elections, which were held on May 23-26. </s> BUDAPEST, Hungary (AP) — Hungarian lawmakers re-elected President Janos Ader to his largely ceremonial post on Monday, ensuring another five-year term for a supporter of populist Prime Minister Viktor Orban’s government.

Ader, nominated by Orban’s governing Fidesz party, defeated Laszlo Majtenyi, a former ombudsman for data protection nominated by the left-wing opposition. Ader won by 131 votes to 39, with 29 abstentions.

A second round was needed because Ader fell two votes short of the 133 votes needed for a two-thirds majority in the first round. Only a simple majority was needed to win in round two.

The 57-year-old Ader is a former parliamentary speaker and member of the European Parliament. He became president in May 2012, after the departure of former Olympic fencing champion Pal Schmitt, who resigned after 20 months in office because of a plagiarism scandal.

Ader has often spoken out on issues related to environmental protection and ensuring the global water supply.

In March last year he clashed with the government over legislation which would have shielded from scrutiny hundreds of millions of dollars of public funds used by foundations set up the National Bank of Hungary. Critics accused the central bank, headed Gyorgy Matolcsy, of using the foundations to distribute money to friends and supporters and of splurging on real estate deals and other non-banknig activities. Ader sent the legislation for review to the Constitutional Court, which later struck down the legislation..

“He could have made his voice heard more often and noted his criticism in symbolic terms, but he could hardly block legislation,” said Csaba Toth, strategic director of the Republikon Institute think tank. “After Schmitt, he played a dignified role.”

The 66-year-old Majtenyi, who heads the Eotvos Karoly Institute, a liberal think tank, was branded by Fidesz as “serving foreign interests” because his institute receives funding from Open Society Foundations founded by Hungarian-born U.S. billionaire George Soros.

The government has accused Soros and numerous non-governmental organizations he supports — including corruption watchdog Transparency International and the Hungarian Helsinki Committee, a human rights advocate — of trying to unduly influence Hungarian politics. Legislation targeting those and similar groups is expected to be debated in parliament within weeks.

Majtenyi criticized a wide range of Orban’s policies, including the educational, press and cultural freedoms “stolen” by Orban’s seven-year government, as well as the nationalization of the funds once belonging to private pension schemes.

“Corruption has crushed the state,” Majtenyi told lawmakers. “We would like a free and solidary Hungary. My ideal is the smallest possible state and the most possible solidarity.”

Majtenyi jokingly said he could ask parties whose leaders received support from Soros to vote for him, since Orban briefly studied at Oxford University in 1989 thanks to a Soros-backed scholarship.

Hungary’s Basic Law, or Constitution, alllows the president to serve for a maximum of two terms.

Orban will seek to win his fourth four-year term as prime minister in April 2018. </s> Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orbán and his populist Fidesz party easily swept to victory on Sunday in a parliamentary election that saw the highest turnout of voters in more than a decade.

It will be the third successive term for Orbán, who is the longest-serving prime minister in post-communist Hungary; it's the 54-year-old's fourth term overall. His party is projected to regain its two-thirds majority in the 199-seat parliament.

"We scored a decisive victory," Orbán told his supporters. "We have received an opportunity, created an opportunity to be able to defend Hungary."

Budapest voter Katalin Andrássy said she cast her ballot for Fidesz because she believed the right-wing party and its leader offer Hungary the best protection against Muslim migrants and pressure from Brussels — the main issues Orbán campaigned on.

"I voted for stability and the process that is already underway, and I would like for this process to continue positively with the team that has managed to do positive things," she said.

Fidesz' formerly far-right rival, Jobbik, came in a distant second. Its chairman, Gábor Vona, told reporters at a late night news conference that he was resigning. "We would have liked for this high turnout to yield a different result, but the people decided this way," he said.

Some Hungarian analysts had predicted the high turnout of voters would benefit the opposition. Those candidates did appear do better in bigger cities like Budapest, but Fidesz appeared to dominate races in the rest of the country.

Many polling stations around Hungary remained open for several hours after the 7 p.m. CEST closing time to accommodate voters standing in long lines.

The prime minister and his party also likely benefited from the mail-in ballots of 378,000 of new voters who are ethnically Hungarian, but live abroad. Critics say the current government actively recruited and provided them with citizenship and also allowed them to mail in their votes, which citizens who move abroad from Hungary are not allowed to do.

International observers from the OSCE Office for Democratic Institutions and Human Rights (ODIHR) have scheduled a press conference on Monday to talk about some of their findings on the Hungarian elections.

Some right-wing conservatives in Hungary who used to support Fidesz have soured on Orbán. One such supporter-turned-critic is Péter Márki-Zay, an independent mayor who two months ago beat the Fidesz candidate in the party's southern stronghold of Hódmezővásárhely.

Orbán "created a system where he practically cannot be removed from power," Márki-Zay said. "As in every authoritarian leader, you know, after time, he just surrounded himself with people who supported him and didn't dare to criticize him. So he lost touch with reality."

That's not how the prime minister sees it. "Our homeland, Hungary is not yet where we would like it to be," he told supporters on Sunday night. "But it has set out on the way it has chosen for itself. We'll go all the way on this road together."

The sweeping election results will likely embolden the prime minister in his battles with the EU leadership over its attempts to better integrate the 28-country bloc, as well as any plans it has regarding refugees.

Hungarian government spokesman Zoltán Kovács told NPR the new government also plans to exert more control over civil society. Earlier this year, the cabinet submitted draft measures to the Hungarian parliament aimed at banning NGOs deemed a security risk or that support immigration, while also imposing a 25 percent tax on foreign donations to those groups who help migrants.

"Because of the election campaign ... there was no time actually to go through the proposal," Kovács said. "But that's going to be the first issue, the first topic on which the new parliament" votes. </s> Hungary’s Civic Alliance (Fidesz), led by the prime minister, Viktor Orbán, and his junior coalition partner, the Christian Democratic Peoples’ Party (KDNP), has decisively won a third super-majority in the country’s national election.

Previous wins in 2010 and 2014 have enabled Orbán to radically change the Hungarian constitution. He rolled back democratic checks and balances to build what he described as an “illiberal democracy”. This latest victory for Fidesz will serve to consolidate this shift away from the European liberal political mainstream. Orbán is now firmly entrenched as a major political thorn in the side of the EU and a champion of populist politics for the continent’s right wing.

When Fidesz lost a key mayoral election in the city of Hódmezővásárhely in February, it raised some hope that its opponents were in revival. But with almost all votes counted, Orbán has 133 of the 199 seats in parliament, a victory reinforced by one of the highest election turnouts in recent years (68.13%) and an upswing of over 3.6% for the incumbent Orbán.

This amounts to a two-thirds super-majority, effectively locking opposition parties out of the governance process. Major constitutional changes and laws can now be passed by the ruling party coalition alone.

The success of the Fidesz campaign, which was characterised by provocative eurosceptic, anti-immigration and antisemitic rhetoric, will no doubt raise further questions about the deepening of the populist root in Central and Eastern Europe. It may also finally force European leaders – including those within the European People’s Party (EPP), the EU political group with which Fidesz is affiliated, to take stock of the imbalance within their own ranks. To date, there has been an assumption within the EPP that after eight years in government Orbán would be moderated by a more balanced electoral outcome. His latest success shows that electoral balance is not something Orbán has to worry about. He is likely to be emboldened to push harder against Brussels and his political opponents within and outside of Hungary.

The real story of this election, however, is with the opposition. In a speech late on Sunday evening Orbán declared that the party had “won a fatal victory” against his rivals. And indeed, before the night was out, the leaders of both the right-wing Jobbik and the left-wing Socialists had resigned.

Jobbik came second in the election winning only 26 seats (13.07% share of the parliamentary seats with 19.54% of the popular vote), with the left-wing Socialist-Dialogue (MSZP-PÁRBESZÉD) joint ticket taking 20 seats (10.05% of seats and 12.33% popular vote). The remaining seats were divided among an array of smaller parties. These included the Democratic Coalition (DK), headed by former prime minister Ferenc Gyurcsány, which took nine seats (4.52% seats with 5.58% popular vote), the Greens (LMP), which gained eight seats (4.02% seats with 6.92% popular vote) and the Unity (Együtt) party, which won a single seat. Two additional seats went to an independent and a candidate representing the country’s ethnic German minority population. The newer smaller parties including Momentum, a youth movement headed by András Fekete-Győr, which had stood on an anti-Orbán and anti-corruption ticket, failed to win any seats.

The biggest challenge to Fidesz was felt in Budapest. There, opposition parties won 12 of the 18 city parliamentary seats. In the countryside and regional towns and cities, Fidesz won the race and opposition groups failed. To some extent, Fidesz has capitalised on inter-party animosity among its opponents. Jobbik, for instance had refused to work with any party linked to the transition era – which includes both the MSZP and DK.

The resignation of leading political figures such as Gabor Vonar, who had led Jobbik’s campaign and had sought to shift the party away from its once radical far-right position towards a more moderate nationalist leaning raises questions about the future direction of that party. Faced with a strengthened Orbán, it may now return to its less moderate roots. It is also clear that the socialists still hold no real traction with the wider population.

The next election is not until 2022, by which point Fidesz, under Orbán, will have been in power for 12 years. In the meantime, the opposition could with effective coordination help to chip away at the super-majority by cooperating to target by-election opportunities. But if there is to be any radical shift in Hungarian politics the focus will need to be on building a proper political alternative to Fidesz – a task that is near impossible in the current political climate in Hungary.
János Áder is re-elected President of Hungary by the National Assembly.