Center-right party wins in Hungary

The center-right party Fidesz emerged as the clear winner in the first round of elections in Hungary on Sunday. The party won 52.8 percent of the national vote, with 98.9 percent of votes counted, election officials said. Center-right party wins in Hungary The far-right party Jobbik was on its way into parliament for the first time with 16.7 percent of votes, just behind the governing Socialist Party, which was punished by the huge swing to the right and garnered just 19.3 percent, national election commission officials said. The only other party to make it past the 5-percent threshold to enter parliament was the new green-liberal party LMP (Politics Can Be Different), which collected 7.42 percent of the votes counted thus far. Hundreds of voters had to stand for hours in chilly and wet spring weather in long queues outside polling stations, mainly in the capital, as the system failed to cope with the large number of people who had registered to vote at a polling station away from home. The National Election Committee said that anyone who turned up at the polling station before the deadline would have the opportunity to vote, and decided that a ban on releasing results until all voting had finished would be extended. Earlier Sunday, with just one-and-a-half hours to go before polling was due to end, 59.28 percent of voters had turned up to cast their ballots, down slightly on the 61.72 percent at the same stage in 2006 but higher than recent polls had suggested. The electoral authorities confirmed that the 50-percent threshold for the elections to be valid had been passed in all 20 regions nationwide, increasing the likelihood that the results of the first round will - as pollsters and analysts predict - be decisive. Polling stations opened for the election that opinion polls had for months been suggesting would produce a huge swing to the right. Voting took place largely without incident, although some polling stations in the capital began the day by scrubbing away political graffiti, and one 58-year-old woman died in an ambulance helicopter after taking ill at a polling station in a village 80 kilometers from the capital. Hungary's strict rules on campaign silence meant that canvassers were not permitted to drum up support from wavering or apathetic voters while voting was underway. Reporting on opinion polls was prohibited. The 46-year-old former prime minister Viktor Orban is expected to lead Fidesz back into power after eight years of Socialist government. The far-right nationalist party Jobbik won a surprise 15 percent of the vote in Hungary's European Parliament elections last June, far more than pollsters had predicted. Hungary has one of the world's most complex electoral systems, with elections taking place in two rounds, the second to be held on April 25. In the first round, 176 members of parliament are chosen via a straightforward majority vote in their local constituencies. Voters also put a cross next to the name of a preferred party, and a further 152 seats in parliament are apportioned on a proportional representation basis. Smaller parties, such as the new green-liberal Politics Can Be Different, are hoping to pass the 5-percent threshold needed to enter parliament. The remaining seats in the 386-seat parliament are shared out via a complex system to compensate parties for votes received that would otherwise have been "wasted". Given the size of lead Fidesz has shown in opinion polls, however, for the party not to emerge the clear winner after the first round of voting would represent a major upset.

Center-right party wins in Hungary

The far-right party Jobbik was on its way into parliament for the first time with 16.7 percent of votes, just behind the governing Socialist Party, which was punished by the huge swing to the right and garnered just 19.3 percent, national election commission officials said.

The only other party to make it past the 5-percent threshold to enter parliament was the new green-liberal party LMP (Politics Can Be Different), which collected 7.42 percent of the votes counted thus far.

Hundreds of voters had to stand for hours in chilly and wet spring weather in long queues outside polling stations, mainly in the capital, as the system failed to cope with the large number of people who had registered to vote at a polling station away from home.

The National Election Committee said that anyone who turned up at the polling station before the deadline would have the opportunity to vote, and decided that a ban on releasing results until all voting had finished would be extended.

Earlier Sunday, with just one-and-a-half hours to go before polling was due to end, 59.28 percent of voters had turned up to cast their ballots, down slightly on the 61.72 percent at the same stage in 2006 but higher than recent polls had suggested.

The electoral authorities confirmed that the 50-percent threshold for the elections to be valid had been passed in all 20 regions nationwide, increasing the likelihood that the results of the first round will - as pollsters and analysts predict - be decisive.

Polling stations opened for the election that opinion polls had for months been suggesting would produce a huge swing to the right.

Voting took place largely without incident, although some polling stations in the capital began the day by scrubbing away political graffiti, and one 58-year-old woman died in an ambulance helicopter after taking ill at a polling station in a village 80 kilometers from the capital.

Hungary's strict rules on campaign silence meant that canvassers were not permitted to drum up support from wavering or apathetic voters while voting was underway. Reporting on opinion polls was prohibited.

The 46-year-old former prime minister Viktor Orban is expected to lead Fidesz back into power after eight years of Socialist government.

The far-right nationalist party Jobbik won a surprise 15 percent of the vote in Hungary's European Parliament elections last June, far more than pollsters had predicted.

Hungary has one of the world's most complex electoral systems, with elections taking place in two rounds, the second to be held on April 25.

In the first round, 176 members of parliament are chosen via a straightforward majority vote in their local constituencies.

Voters also put a cross next to the name of a preferred party, and a further 152 seats in parliament are apportioned on a proportional representation basis.

Smaller parties, such as the new green-liberal Politics Can Be Different, are hoping to pass the 5-percent threshold needed to enter parliament.

The remaining seats in the 386-seat parliament are shared out via a complex system to compensate parties for votes received that would otherwise have been "wasted".

Given the size of lead Fidesz has shown in opinion polls, however, for the party not to emerge the clear winner after the first round of voting would represent a major upset.