Hungary turns right

Viktor Orban, leader of the conservative Fidesz party that won the first round of general elections, promised yesterday to drive Hungary back to economic growth and to cut the budget deficit.

"We have to put Hungary on the path of economic growth," Mr Orban told a press conference after his opposition Fidesz party won more than 50 per cent of the vote in first round elections on Sunday.

A second round will be held April 25 but already Fidesz has 206 of the 386 seats in parliament, meaning a return to power for Mr Orban, who was premier between 1998 and 2002. Mr Orban said "austerity measures are not the solutions to the problem," attacking the unpopular policies adopted by the incumbent Socialist government.

"Austerity measures always generate new ones and the Hungarian nation is sick of all those measures," he added.

Mr Orban promised during his campaign to create one million new jobs over 10 years in the country of 10 million people where the unemployment rate is currently over 11 per cent.