Younger Hungarian Voters Spurn Orban, Some Say They Will Leave if He Is Re-Elected
By Krisztina Fenyo, Marton Monus and Gergely Szakacs SZOMBATHELY, Hungary, April 6 (Reuters) – As Hungary heads towards a pivotal election, voters who came of age under Prime Minister Viktor Orban have emerged as a key group driving support for the opposition, with some saying they will leave the country if the veteran leader is re-elected. Orban, 62, a eurosceptic nationalist, is facing the biggest threat to his 16-year grip on power, with most opinion polls showing centre-right rival Peter Magyar and his Tisza Party on course to defeat him in Sunday’s election. The media-savvy Magyar, 45, is proving an attractive alternative for many younger voters disenchanted with Orban’s right-wing Fidesz party, sociologists and pollsters say. “Fidesz’s thinking no longer understands young people,” sociologist Daniel Oross said. Full-time university students are an especially key demographic, he said, noting that if they were to vote as a bloc they could lift a party above the 5% parliamentary threshold. The number of Hungarian emigrants has risen sharply since Russia’s 2022 invasion of neighbouring Ukraine, which had a …