Hungary’s governing Fidesz two points ahead of opposition alliance -poll

BUDAPEST (Reuters) – Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban’s ruling Fidesz party has a two percentage point lead over an opposition alliance in a late March survey ahead of the April 3 election.

The poll, conducted by pollster Zavecz Research between March 23 and 25 and published by website Telex.hu on Monday, put support for nationalist Orban’s Fidesz at 41% of the electorate, while the opposition alliance stood at 39%.

Both the governing party and the opposition gained 3 percentage points since Zavecz’s previous survey in February while the share of undecided voters fell.

Orban faces a united, six-party opposition front for the first time since taking office in a 2010 election landslide.

The opposition alliance includes the Democratic Coalition, the Socialists, liberals and the formerly far-right, now centre-right, Jobbik. Its candidate for prime minister is Peter Marki-Zay, an independent who is currently mayor of Hodmezovasarhely, a town in southern Hungary.

Zavecz said that their research suggests that turnout will be high at the election, possibly reaching as much as 80%.

date agency fidesz opposition undecided

March 23-25

Zavecz 39 16

41

March 16-18 Republikon 41 39 16

March 2-11 IDEA 40 37 11

Feb 18-24 Republikon 40 39 16

Feb 22-26 Median 39 32 20

Jan 31-Feb 9 IDEA 38 34 13

Feb 2-10

Zavecz 36 20

38

Jan 20-25 Republikon 36 34 22

Jan 4-14 IDEA 39 37 10

Dec 4-7 Median 39 34 13

Dec 9-14 Republikon 33 36 24

Nov 2-12 Zavecz 37 41 14

Nov 2-3 Nezopont 56 42 2

Oct 25-29 Republikon 32 38 30

Oct 11-19 Zavecz 35 39 23

Sept 29-Oct 4 Median 37 37 17

Oct Szazadveg 50 44 6

Sept Zavecz 37 38 23

Sept 20-21 Nezopont 53 45 N/A

Aug 23-25 Nezopont 52 46 N/A

(Reporting by Anita Komuves; Editing by Chizu Nomiyama)