Hungary today is holding parliamentary elections

Citizens in Hungary are voting today in parliamentary elections that are expected to test the power of rightist Prime Minister Viktor Orban.

Orban's nationalist party, Fidesz, appears to win about 50 per cent of the vote. Thus it is said in pre-election polls, prompting the anti-European and anti-immigrant leader Orban to be the favourite for the third consecutive term as prime minister.

Polls predict the Fidesz party will pass the radical nationalist party Jobbik, the Socialists and some smaller leftist parties.

However, recent polls have suggested that, based on results in local elections, the Fidesz party may not win votes as it has won in 2010 and 2014.

Polls question whether Orban could win the two-thirds majority, as he had won 8 years ago, giving him the power to change the country's Constitution.

Some 8.3 million people have the right to vote in this election. They will vote for their district candidate and one for a party.

After voting in Budapest, 51-year-old Orban has said that voting in these elections is “for Hungary's future” and has reiterated his stance that he will work for state interests.

“We love our country and we will fight for it”, he said.

Orban, who served as prime minister from 1998 to 2002, has campaigned with platforms against migrants and has said that in these votes Hungarians will decide to regain their state.

“Srikes they want to take our homeland”, he said during an election rally in Budapest.

“Parties serving foreign interests and foreign-paid politicians want to govern and turn Hungary into immigrant state”, Orban had said.

Party leader Gabor Vona has voted today in the town of Gyongyos and has said the election results “will determine Hungary's fate, not just for the next four years, but for two generations”.

The National Election Office has said that in the first two hours after the opening of the polls, 13.17 percent, which is a record figure in Hungary, have voted. Analysts say the major exit to the elections could harm Fidesz party.

Orban started his political career as a liberal activist in the late '80s. In the last eight years, his government has extended control over media, businesses and increased influence in the banking, energy, construction and tourism sector.

Some critics accuse him of being very hospitable to Russian President Vladimir Putin. Orban had been critical of Putin in the past. But, after winning the 2010 elections, he has called for the transformation of Hungary, setting Russia and Turkey as successful states.

European leaders will closely monitor the results in the elections, as a victory by the Orban party could likely spur right-wing nationalists even in other Central European countries, especially in Poland and Austria, and this could boost concerns about EU cohesion.