Election 2018 – Orbán: Hungarians to choose future on April 8

When Hungarians head to the polls on April 8, they will not just be deciding about their country’s future for the next four years, but for many decades to come, the prime minister said in an interview to a local broadcaster in south-western Hungary’s Nagykanizsa on Thursday.

“This will not be a regular election,” Viktor Orbán said.

“There is a struggle going on in Europe,” Orbán said. At the centre of it is the question of which countries will get to “stay out of the global trend which creates immigrant countries taking in more and more mixed populations, cultures and people without roots”, he said. The question is whether Hungary, together with Poland, the Czech Republic, Slovakia, Croatia “and perhaps Romania”, will get to “stay out of this and preserve Hungary as a Christian, national, Hungarian country”.

Hungary is a country of religious freedom; everyone has a right to express their opinion, can choose their path in life, their faith and their conviction, Orbán said.

“Men and women have equal rights; here in Hungary we observe the law and consider public safety an asset.”

Hungary does not have to deal with terrorism, but these life principles and Hungarians’ way of life “is now at risk”, the prime minister said.

The question is whether Hungary can remain Christian and Hungarian or will become part of a Europe where mixed populations live, Orbán said. “And then they will settle, at first tens and later hundreds of thousands of people who have nothing to do with the culture or way of life which we have developed over the past one thousand years,” he added. What is really at stake in the April 8 election is whether or not Hungary will become an “immigrant country”, he insisted.

On the topic of Hungary’s opposition parties, Orbán said they lacked the courage as well as the will to protect Hungary.

“In fact, they are connected to an international network,” the prime minister said. “This Soros empire is specifically working — employing at least 2,000 mercenaries and paid activists in Hungary — on turning the entire continent and all of its member states into immigrant countries,” he said.

“They want to dismantle the fence, change the laws that keep migrants out and approve the Brussels diktats that would bring tens and hundreds of thousands of migrants to Hungary,” Orbán said.

This would halt Hungary’s growth, he said, arguing that “we won’t be able to raise pensions, support young people and home construction and create jobs all while building an immigrant country.”

Concerning gender equality, Orbán said that “the culture of life is equivalent to respect for women”. “Our culture — Christian and Hungarian culture — assigns a prominent role to women,” he said.

“We might not always behave the right way, but overall, the Hungarian community is one that respects women; this is the line of division between our civilisation and other civilisations.” Orbán said the migrants entering Europe “don’t accept women as the equal members of society”.

featured image: MTI