Portuguese MPs have joined European counterparts in their unfiltered delight over the results of Hungary’s legislative elections yesterday.
With President Seguro already having congratulated the victor, Péter Magyar, who has unseated the prime minister of 16-years Viktor Orbán, the feeling across the board is that this was the ‘absolute best result possible for Europe’.
Orbán, seen as a pro-Russian agitator within the EU for so many years, was also the choice of the administration of Donald J. Trump, whose war on Iran has thrown the global economy into a flatspin, the consequences of which are still ‘ongoing’ – with very few analysts able to predict where everything is heading.
But in terms of Europe’s future, this is now suddenly so much rosier, and clearer.
MPs participating in the international observation mission for the elections reported the “huge turnout, something extraordinary” last night, and, particularly the “happiness” on people’s faces as they lined up to cast their votes.
Luís Graça, the PS MP in Budapest yesterday, told Lusa: ““It is not just Europe that is looking at Hungary; the whole world is looking at Hungary, which (…) is making an important choice for democracy on the European continent.”
Today, the wider PS has said that the results mark “a clear rejection of practices that undermine democracy.”
As so many other news outlets have observed, none of this will please Vladimir Putin in Russia, nor will it titillate Donald Trump in the United States – but it has utterly delighted Europe.
According to Portugal’s Socialists, the result – Péter Magyar’s Tisza, centre-right party won by what is being hailed as a ‘super majority’ – “proves that even after years of institutional erosion, democracy retains the capacity to regenerate when met with civic mobilisation, a sense of collective responsibility, and an awareness of the gravity of the political moment.
“It also represents an unequivocal rejection of practices that have undermined the rule of law and democratic standards, whilst expressing a refusal to accept external interference in the ongoing democratic process”, said the Socialists.
As for president of the European Commission, Ursula Von der Leyen, she sent out a message over ‘X’ last night, saying: “Tonight, Europe’s heart is beating stronger in Hungary”, adding later: “Hungary has chosen Europe, Europe has always chosen Hungary. A country reclaims its European path. The Union grows stronger”.
Portugal’s centre-right prime minister, Luís Montenegro has also congratulated Péter Magyar on his resounding victory, saying: “May this new phase, founded on broad democratic participation, enable joint work in support of the European project, and its fundamental values and principles.”
Even CHEGA – Portugal’s own far-right party – has managed congratulations: “It seems that Hungary was after all a democracy, contrary to what the left and Brussels bureaucrats had been proclaiming”, observed leader André Ventura over ‘X’. “May the transition for the Hungarian people be good and peaceful.”
Source: LUSA/ ‘X’
