BELARUS NEWS AND ANALYSIS
DATE:
26/04/2010
Orban wins landslide, Belarus opposition wins seats
Two results for elections held at the weekend, in Belarus and Hungary, have raised interest in Poland.
Hungary's center-right Fidesz party won a two-thirds parliamentary majority in the second round of the parliamentary elections on Sunday.
With 99 percent of votes counted, the state electoral committee announced a landslide victory for the party led by Viktor Orban, ousting the Socialist government after eight years in power.
The Fidesz party is part of the European People's Party in the European Parliament, alongside Poland's senior coalition partner, Civic Platform.
Meanwhile, three Belarusian opposition candidates, from the Christian Democrats Party, won mandates in yesterday' local elections.
While the counting of votes continues, the opposition has expressed hope that more of their representatives, competing against pro-Lukashenko candidates, will gain seats in local councils.
Twenty-five thousand candidates, including an estimated 360 opposition candidates, ran in the elections for a total of 21,000 seats in local government.
The elections led to an alleged increase in the repression of opposition politicians and independent groups such as the Union of Poles in Belarus, drawing criticism from the European Commission. Brussels warned that the worsening human rights situation in the ex-Soviet nation could threaten further cooperation with the European Union. (ab/pg)
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