10:35 - FM Szijjártó: Fidesz won the highest number of votes
“On a national level, Fidesz has gathered the highest amount of votes. The map of the country is orange,” Foreign Minister Péter Szijjártó said in a statement on election night. According to him, the cooperation between the government and municipalities is key. “Hungary’s success is built upon the successes of local communities,” Szijjártó said.
20:33 - Péter Rádi: Elections carried out without incident
The chairman of Hungary’s National Electoral Office called Sunday’s municipal elections “a true celebration of democracy” because of high voter turnout. Péter Rádi also said at a press conference shortly after polls closed at 7 pm that the elections were not affected by any event that would have blocked the will of the voters.
20:02 - 18:30 turnout figures just in for Hungary’s municipal elections: 47.20% nationwide and 49.19 in Budapest.
20:00 - Fidesz VP Lajos Kósa: Voters have celebrated democracy today in Hungary
In a brief statement at the Fidesz-KDNP election event, Fidesz Vice President Lajos Kósa said that the high voter turnout means that today was a celebration of Hungary’s democracy. Voters turned out in larger numbers than in the European Parliamentary elections in May and the 2014 local elections, Kósa said.
“One of the most important decisions is when we decide who should lead our villages and towns. The most important thing is that suitable people should be leading our settlements.”
19:57 - More than eight million people were eligible to vote in municipal elections
Polls opened at six o’clock in the morning for the eighth municipal elections in Hungary since 1990. In the country’s more than 10,000 constituencies, more than eight million voters were eligible to cast their votes until 7 pm. 4 mayoral candidates for Budapest, 7,386 mayoral candidates for other municipalities, 5,735 individual constituency candidates, and 34,803 individual list candidates ran in the elections. In parallel, elections for the ethnic minority municipal governments was also held. In municipal elections, county (capital), and local (district) municipal representatives, mayors and the capital mayor, and minority municipal representatives are elected. Voters with a permanent address in a municipality/county can vote only in the county and local government elections; you must also be 18 years of age or above (or above 16 in the case of marriage or divorce). Minority self-government elections can be voted on by those who declare themselves to be members of a recognized nationality within a specified deadline. The national register contains 8,025,755 voters, while the minority list has 317,804.
19:07 - “Suitable people for the right task”
Prime Minister Viktor Orbán also cast his vote today in the XII. district of the capital, Budapest. The prime minister said that the key question facing voters in these municipal elections was whether or not there would be qualified leaders at the head of towns and villages, adding that this has been the most intense campaign for local candidates in 30 years. “It’s important that in matters close to the people, those who act enjoy the public’s trust,” the prime minister said.
19:02 - Voter turnout in Hungary’s smallest municipality, with just 13 voters, was 100% by 14:00
In Iborfia, a small village in Zala County and Hungary’s tiniest municipality, voter turnout reached 100 percent by 14:00, with all 13 eligible voters casting their votes.
18:35 - Here are the 17:00 turnout figures from Hungary’s local elections
According to the latest update from Hungary's National Elections Office, 42.69 percent of eligible voters, some 3.4 million people, had cast their votes by 17:00. The figure for Budapest stands at 44.07 percent, while Vas county sports the highest (48.66%) and Hajdú-Bihar the lowest (37.04%) turnout numbers. Next voter figures coming soon.