Most Hungarian voters believe a crucial parliamentary election on April 12 will be interfered with by foreign governments or somehow rigged by the incumbents, a poll has shown.
Next Sunday’s vote has been billed as a titanic clash between democracy and authoritarianism.
A grassroots opposition movement headed by Péter Magyar’s Tisza party seeks to unseat pro-Kremlin populist Viktor Orbán and his Fidesz party after 16 years at the helm.
But 79% of the Hungarian public fear foreign interference in the electoral process, according to research by Hungarian pollster the Publicus Institute published on Saturday.
Two thirds of voters believe the main culprit in electoral deceit to be the Fidesz party with just 15% suspecting Tisza of dishonesty.
Only 30% said they believed the election would be entirely above board.
Tisza enjoys a comfortable lead in pre-elections polls recording 56% support to Fidesz’s 37% in a study conducted on Wednesday by Hungary market survey organization 21 Research Center.