Hungary Goes Against Free Immigration

For John, BLUF:  I don't think this has predictive value here in the US, but I am sure it gives the progressives in Europe, the bien pensant, the jitters.  Nothing to see here; just move along.

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Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban Wins Fourth Term

Here is the sub-headline:

Some opposition leaders criticized the results, saying the election was unfair

From The Wall Street Journal, by Reporters Drew Hinshaw and Anita Komuves, 8 April 2018.

(The article may be behind a paywall.)

Here is the lede plus one:

BUDAPEST—Prime Minister Viktor Orban, a leading figure for Europe's nationalist right, won a fourth term on Sunday, prevailing on an anti-immigration message to carry his country's biggest turnout election in years.

With 93% of votes counted, Mr. Orban's Fidesz party looked likely to win 133 seats in his 199 seat parliament, Hungary's election office said, just enough to rewrite the country's constitution—removing the few constraints on Mr. Orban's growing power here.  At least 68% of the country's eligible voters showed up, many still lined up for hours after polls closed at 7 p.m., and the election was likely to see the post-Communist state's highest turnout since 1994, when the right to vote was still young here.

The issues in the election were stark, each of them galvanizing millions of people to endure lines that surpassed a kilometer in some districts.  On the one side, Mr. Orban pounded away at a promise to keep out immigrants—especially Muslims—pointing to the 2015 barbed wire fence he erected across roughly 100 miles of Hungary's southern border.

Voters on the other side said they were tired of a leader who will have governed Hungary for half of its post-Communist history when he finishes his next four-year-term—one who is accused by the European Union and the U.S. State Department of becoming increasingly autocratic.  Local opposition also hammered Mr. Orban with corruption allegations that ultimately failed to discourage his base from turning out.

Apparently it isn't just the United States where voters are not all that keen on rampant immigration  Germany may like it, but not Hungary.

Here is a hopeful sign, perhaps a trend that might be adopted here:

Instead he won by such a resounding margin that the entire leadership of the socially liberal Together party resigned on live television, as did the head of the socialist party.  The nationalist Jobbik party's chairman Gábor Vona told reporters he refused to congratulate the winner—then he resigned, too.

Oh well, at least I can hope.  And, there is no promise that after resignation they will actually go away, although DNC Chairperson Debbie Wasserman Schultz seems to have gone away, although her IT folks do keep popping up in the news.

Regards  —  Cliff