HUNGARY: PRIME MINISTER GYULA HORN LOOKS SET TO RETAIN LEADERSHIP
Natural Sound
Hungarian voters have given
Prime Minister Gyula Horn's ruling Socialists a nudge towards four more years in power.
Although the final results will not be known for another two weeks,
Hungarians have grudgingly supported the Socialists' painful reforms that have restored the economy.
Despite a strong challenge by the center-right
Young Democrats-Civic
Party in the first round of parliamentary elections, the Socialists, led by Gyula Horn, moved into a good position to retain the leadership in a May 24 runoff.
Austerity measures introduced by Gyula Horn, have turned the
Hungarian economy into
Eastern Europe's star performer, surpassing the
Czech Republic in recent months.
But the improvements have yet to reach ordinary citizens' lives, and enthusiasm was muted for both the Socialists and the elections.
Nationwide turnout on a hot, sunny day was only 55 percent, well below the 69 percent turnout of the previous election.
With nearly 71 percent of the ballots counted, the Socialists led the
Young Democrats 32.2 percent to 27.8 percent.
The balance of power won't be known for two more weeks, when runoffs are held in races that either didn't produce majority winners on Sunday, or where turnout was below 50 percent.
Victor Orban, leader of Fidesz liberal Party wasn't prepared to make predictions.
SOUNDBITE: (Hungarian)
"I'm not a mind reader, I'm the head of my party. I'm a parliamentary candidate and we have to wait a few weeks to find the results."
SUPER CAPTION: Victor Orban leader of Fidesz
All 386 seats in
Parliament are at stake in the two rounds of voting.
The Socialists, who currently hold a majority 209 seats in Parliament, are expected to carry their lead over the Young Democrats into the runoffs.
As a successor to the
Soviet-era communists, the Socialists boast the best grassroots system and the most loyal voters.
The Young Democrats, founded a decade ago as
Hungary's first opposition party, remained optimistic heading into the runoff campaign.
Only three other parties were on course to top the
5 percent minimum required to qualify for parliament in party-list balloting: the
Independent Smallholders
14.1 percent,
Free Democrats 7.8 percent and the right-wing extremist Hungarian
Truth and
Life Party 5.4 percent.
Those wanting the very latest election results could log onto the internet.
The 65-year-old premier, a longtime diplomat in the
Soviet bloc, presides over a party of renamed communists.
His role in a mop-up militia following the
Soviets' bloody suppression of a
1956 uprising still bothers some Hungarians.
Public opinion also is sharply divided in a country where as many as 2 million people - a fifth of the population - live at or below the poverty line.
But the economic turnaround has won
Horn and his Socialists plaudits from
Western officials and economists and general backing at home for his reforms.
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