The Hungarian Prime Minister, Viktor Orbán, and opposition leader Peter Magyar, the main contender to snatch power from him, have already cast their vote in this Sunday's legislative elections in Hungary, an event marked by unusually high levels of participation since the start of the day.
Two hours after the opening of the polling stations, 16.89 percent of the census had already voted, a figure that exceeds by more than six percentage points that recorded at the same time in the legislative elections four years ago, which suggests that voter turnout could continue to increase strongly throughout the day.
After casting his ballot, Magyar has once again emphasized the relevance of each vote by recalling that "there will be electoral districts where the result will depend on a few votes," before reiterating his full confidence in the triumph of his Tisza formation. The opposition figure has shown himself to be "absolutely convinced" of the victory and has stressed that "nobody seriously thinks that Tisza is going to lose, nor Hungary either". True to the tone of his campaign, with a more pro-European profile than that of his adversary, he has presented the contest as a struggle "between the East and the West".
Orbán, who has also already been to the polls, has promised that he will congratulate Magyar if he wins the elections, while urging people to vote for his party, Fidesz, which he has defined as "is the safest option". In the preceding hours, the head of government has received public displays of support from international allies such as Donald Trump Jr, eldest son of the President of the United States, and the Israeli Minister for Diaspora Affairs, Amichai Chikli.
"One must respect the decision of the people," Orbán has also pointed out, in a context in which both he and Magyar have launched warnings about the possibility of electoral fraud.
The Tisza party claims to have received on its website around 60 complaints for alleged irregularities attributed to Fidesz sympathizers. For his part, Fidesz MEP, Csaba Domotor, has stated that the governing party has registered 639 cases of possible irregularities and that there are still 74 police reports to be processed.