Leader of Hungarian party in Romania backs Viktor Orban ahead of April vote

Kelemen Hunor, president of the Democratic Alliance of Hungarians in Romania (UDMR), said he would support Hungarian prime minister Viktor Orban in Hungary’s parliamentary elections scheduled for April 12, stating that opposition leader Peter Magyar “did not convince him.”

Speaking to RFI, Hunor said that, in his view, “the better option scenario is that Orban continues his work, that is what I consider after everything I have seen in these years.”

The UDMR leader described Orban’s approach toward Hungarian minorities living outside Hungary’s borders as a “coherent and responsible national policy,” suggesting that continuity in Budapest would serve the interests of ethnic Hungarian communities in neighbouring countries, including Romania.

By contrast, Hunor said that Peter Magyar, who has emerged as a leading figure in Hungary’s opposition, has not put forward proposals that would persuade him he would be “a better leader.” He added that neither Magyar nor other opposition figures had offered convincing alternatives.

“My option would be Viktor Orban, if it matters somewhere,” Hunor said.

He also claimed that support for Orban among ethnic Hungarians in Romania remains overwhelming.

“The vote of Hungarians, from all the polls that we have done and that we know of, almost 92% - those who will express themselves - goes towards Orban,” Hunor stated.

Hungarian citizens living abroad, including members of the Hungarian minority in Romania who hold dual citizenship, are entitled to vote in Hungary’s parliamentary elections.

(Photo source: Inquam Photos/Manases Sandor)