Analysis

Support for Fidesz not affected by row with EPP

According to Hungarian polling company Závecz Research Institute, the dispute between Hungarian prime minister Viktor Orbán’s Fidesz party and the European People’s Party have not yet affected popular support within Hungary for Fidesz.

The poll, which was conducted between March 8 and March 19, at the peak of the debates between Fidesz and the EPP, shows that among those who are eligible and willing to vote in the European parliamentary elections in May, support for Fidesz is at 50 per cent, which is only one per cent lower than a month ago. The radical-turned-conservative Jobbik party is a long way behind on 14 per cent, while a coalition of the Hungarian Socialist Party (MSZP) and the green-leftist Dialogue Party (Párbeszéd) has the same level of support.

The Democratic Coalition (DK), the party of former socialist prime minister Ferenc Gyurcsány, would gain nine per cent of the votes on May 26. The poll suggests that the liberal Momentum party, which did not pass the five per cent threshold in Hungarian parliamentary elections in April 2018, would receive five per cent of the vote and get into the European parliament.

LMP, the party of Hungarian Greens, would get four per cent, falling short of sending an MEP to Brussels.