Hungary strongman wins third straight term

BUDAPEST, Apr 09 (AP): Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban said his "decisive" re-election victory and the super majority in parliament his right-wing populist party appeared to have won Sunday were "an opportunity to defend Hungary."

Critics said they feared Orban will use his third consecutive term and the Fidesz party's two-thirds control of Hungary's national legislature to intensify his attacks on migration and to strengthen his command of the country's centralised power structure.

Hungary's remaining independent media, the courts that have made numerous rulings the government did not like and a university founded by Hungarian-American billionaire George Soros, also are among Orban's likely targets.

"We created the opportunity for ourselves to defend Hungary," Orban told a rapturous crowd after his landslide win became undisputable. "A great battle is behind us. We have achieved a decisive victory." With 98.5 per cent of the votes counted, Fidesz and its small ally, the Christian Democrat party, together had secured 133 of the 199 seats in parliament, the minimum needed for a two-thirds majority.