Hungarian Premier Viktor Orban loses super-majority in parliament

Baku.23 February. Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban and his Fidesz party have suffered a critical by-election defeat. The result may signal a decline in popularity of the right-wing party that has ruled in a coalition since 2010, Report informs citing TASS. 

V.Orban and his right-wing Fidesz party have ruled Hungary in a coalition with the Christian Democrats since 2010, using their powerful two-thirds majority to make broad constitutional changes that critics say have placed limits on press freedom and judicial authority.

But the majority was lost Sunday in a by-election as voters in Veszprem, a historically conservative town southwest of Budapest, surprisingly elected independent candidate Zoltan Kesz with 43.1 percent of the vote. Fidesz candidate Lajos Nemedi received 33.4 percent of the ballots cast.

"We have shown a yellow card to the government," Kesz said following his electoral triumph.

A coalition of leftist and liberal parties supported Kesz in his victory.

"The voters in Veszprem have fulfilled the expectations of the entire country and ended Fidesz's two-thirds majority," Kesz said.