(ANSA-AFP) - BUDAPEST, SEP 18 - Hungary's newly united
opposition politicians started going to the polls Saturday in
the country's first-ever primary elections that they hope are
the key to ousting right-wing Prime Minister Viktor Orban. After
years of bickering and a string of landslide losses, the
once-factious opposition has come together with one common goal
-- to push the long-serving leader from power in elections next
year. Their six-party alliance, set up last year, is made up of
a diverse cast of political parties: leftist, liberal and
formerly far-right. They accuse 58-year-old Orban -- who
regularly clashes with Brussels over migration and rule-of-law
issues -- of endemic corruption and creeping authoritarianism
since he came to power in 2010. Now they hope the new primary
system will be their path to defeating his Fidesz party,
Hungary's largest. "The opposition can only compete with Fidesz
if they are in a single bloc too, we've learned that the hard
way," Antal Csardi, a candidate for the green LMP party, told
AFP. The winner-takes-all system brought in under Orban in 2012
handed Fidesz powerful parliamentary "supermajorities" in 2014
and 2018, despite winning less than half of the vote. By
contrast, the primaries will let opposition voters select single
candidates to take on both Orban himself as well as Fidesz
rivals in each of Hungary's 106 electoral districts.
Over 250 candidates are standing in the primaries nationwide
that run from September 18 to 26, with voting taking place
online and in-person. If required, a run-off for the prime
ministerial candidacy will be held between October 4-10.
(ANSA-AFP).
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