Hungary Election Was Free but Not Entirely Fair, Observers Say
Hungary Election Was Free but Not Entirely Fair, Observers Say Photo Prime Minister Viktor Orban of Hungary, center, in Budapest on Sunday with other Hungarian leaders after election results were announced. His party, Fidesz, secured more than 49 percent of the vote. Credit Szilard Koszticsak/MTI, via Associated Press BUDAPEST, Hungary — One day after Viktor Orban and his governing Fidesz party and its allies won a sweeping election victory, independent election monitors said Monday that the party had used the resources of the state on a very large scale to bolster its chances of winning.
“Voters had a wide range of political options but intimidating and xenophobic rhetoric, media bias, and opaque campaign financing constricted the space for genuine political debate,” said Douglas Wake, the head of the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe, or O.S.C.E., mission in Hungary.
“The ubiquitous overlap between government information and ruling coalition campaigns, and other abu..