Budapest: Hungary's centre-right Fidesz party took a commanding lead in the first round of Parliamentary Elections, while Jobbik, a far-right party with an anti-Gypsy and extreme nationalist agenda, was a strong third just behind the governing Socialists.
With 99.2 percent of the first-round votes counted, Fidesz, led by former prime minister Viktor Orban, got 52.8 percent of the votes, the Socialist Party 19.3 percent, and Jobbik 16.7 percent, over three times as much as any other far-right party since the country's return to democracy from Communism in 1990.
Fidesz won 206 of Parliament's 386 seats in the first round and at least a simple majority in the legislature.
"This means that Fidesz has won the 2010 elections, an important announcement," political analyst Gabor Torok said on state television.
A green party, Politics Can Be Different, exceeded expectations with 7.4 percent and became the only other party to get more than the 5 percent minimum needed to be in Parliament.
Voter turnout was 64.3 percent, down from 67.8 percent in the 2006 elections. Runoffs will be held April 25 in districts where no candidate obtained at least half of the ballots.
PTI
First Published: Monday, April 12, 2010, 09:05