BUDAPEST — Hungarians vote on Sunday in an election that could end Prime Minister Viktor Orban’s 16-year hold on power, rattle Russia and send shockwaves through right-wing circles across the West, including US President Donald Trump’s White House and Israel’s Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.

Orban, a eurosceptic nationalist, has carved out a model of an “illiberal democracy” seen as a blueprint by Trump’s Make America Great Again (MAGA) movement and its admirers in Europe.

But many Hungarians have grown increasingly weary of Orban, 62, after three years of economic stagnation and soaring living costs as well as reports of oligarchs close to the government amassing more wealth.

Opinion polls over the last two weeks have shown Orban’s Fidesz party trailing Peter Magyar’s upstart center-right opposition Tisza party by 7-9 percentage points, with Tisza at around 38-41 percent.

Voting in the election for the 199-seat parliament started at 6 a.m. local time (0400 GMT) and is due to close at 7 p.m.

The vote is being closely watched in Brussels, with many EU peers criticizing Orban, a friend of Russian President Vladimir Putin and a close Trump ally, over what they say is an erosion of Hungary’s democratic rule, media freedom and minority rights.

For Hungary’s eastern neighbor Ukraine, an Orban defeat could mean the unblocking of a 90-billion-euro ($105 billion) European Union loan vital for Kyiv’s war effort. It would also deprive Russia of its closest ally in the EU.

But Trump and Netanyahu are hoping for a win for their ally, with the Israeli leader heaping praise on Orban last month, and the US president saying Friday that he is ready to take steps to strengthen Hungary’s economy if Orban........

© The Times of Israel