- Title: HUNGARY: HUNGARIANS VOTE IN SECOND ROUND OF ELECTION FOR NEW GOVERNMENT
- Date: 21st April 2002
- Summary: (W5) BUDAPEST, HUNGARY (APRIL 21, 2002) (REUTERS - ACCESS ALL) 3. SLV SOCIALIST PARTY CANDIDATE PETER MEDGYESSY ARRIVING AT POLLING STATION 0.06 4. SLV/SCU PETER MEDGYESSY WALKING OUT OF VOTING BOOTH AND POSING FOR MEDIA 0.17 5. SMV PETER MEDGYESSY VOTING 0.33 6. SLV PETER MEDGYESSY ACCOMPANIED BY WIFE AND STEPDAUGHTER WALKING IN STREET 0.48 7. SLV ELECTION POSTER FEATURING CONSERVATIVE FIDESZ PARTY CANDIDATE AND HUNGARIAN PRIME MINISTER VIKTOR ORBAN 0.52 8. VARIOUS, HUNGARIAN PRIME MINISTER VIKTOR ORBAN, ACCOMPANIED BY WIFE AND CHILDREN REGISTERING AT POLLING STATION 1.01 9. VARIOUS, HUNGARIAN PRIME MINISTER VIKTOR ORBAN CASTING BALLOT WITH DAUGHTER /POSING FOR MEDIA 1.24 10. SLV HUNGARIAN PRIME MINISTER VIKTOR ORBAN AND FAMILY WALKING OUT OF POLLING STATION 1.32 11. SCU SOUNDBITE (English) HUNGARIAN PRIME MINISTER VIKTOR ORBAN SAYING: "The campaign was good, it has mobilised, may I say the whole population of Hungary. The turnout is very high which is very good because it means that the Hungarian people believe in the future and they would like to participate in the formation of it. So it is a great achievement for the Hungarian democracy." 1.57 12. SCU SOUNDBITE (Hungarian) HUNGARIAN PRIME MINISTER VIKTOR ORBAN ANSWERING QUESTION ABOUT WHETHER HE THOUGHT THE CAMPAIGN WAS TOO HARSH, SAYING: "In every campaign things happen which should not happen, but, if we judge it by the American and Western European standards I think nothing extraordinary happened. It was an exciting campaign." 2.10 13. SLV HUNGARIAN PRIME MINISTER VIKTOR ORBAN WALKING ALONG STREET WITH HIS FAMILY 2.23 14. WIDE, PEOPLE COMING OUT OF POLLING STATION 2.31 15. SCU HUNGARIAN FLAG ON POLLING STATION 2.38 16. VARIOUS OF PEOPLE VOTING (8 SHOTS) 3.33 Initials Script is copyright Reuters Limited. All rights reserved
- Embargoed: 6th May 2002 13:00
- Keywords:
- Location: BUDAPEST, HUNGARY
- Country: Hungary
- Reuters ID: LVA516J23RPKPZYIRAB7B4Z5RFMS
- Story Text: Hungarians have flocked to the polls to vote in an
election runoff where the centre-left is poised to unseat
conservative Prime Minister Viktor Orban and lead Hungary into
the European Union.
Brought out to vote by bright sunshine, almost a third
of voters had cast their ballot by 11 a.m. (0900 GMT), even
more than in a first round two weeks ago which ended with
record 71 percent turnout.
At that stage the opposition Socialists narrowly beat
Orban's Fidesz/Democratic Forum alliance, easing investors
fears Hungary may swing to the radical right or face an unstable
minority government.
If they carry the decisive second round, the Socialists
are likely to team up with the liberal Free Democrats, as they
did in 1994-98, to form a centre-left government.
They have promised a market-friendly economic policy,
scrapping capital gains tax and selling off state assets, as
well as mending ties with central European neighbours who have
been irritated by Orban's nationalist rhetoric.
Polls close at 7 p.m. (1700 GMT) and preliminary results
are due at about 9 p.m. (1900 GMT).
Among the early voters was Orban's Socialist rival for
head of government, Peter Medgyessy.
He arrived, looking relaxed, at a Budapest polling station
with his wife and stepdaughter.
"The campaign was good, it has mobilised, may I say the
whole population of Hungary. The turnout is very high which is
very good because it means that the Hungarian people believe
in the future and they would like to participate in the
formation of it. So it is a great achievement for the
Hungarian democracy," Orban told waiting journalists.
Orban, 38 and seeking to become Hungary's first leader to
win re-election since communism fell in 1989, voted in the
early afternoon.
The election day mood was in marked contrast to a
bad-tempered campaign in which the two rival blocs traded
jibes and polarised Hungary's 10 million population.
Both sides have targeted Hungary's pensioners and rural
poor, many of whom have been left behind in the country's
booming economy.
Medgyessy, a quietly-spoken former banker, has pledged to
reunite the country after a confrontational campaign, with a
more open government, a crackdown on corruption and measures
to narrow the gap between rich and poor.
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