Ruptly
"Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban struck a defiant tone on Sunday as voters headed to the polls in Budapest for parliamentary elections widely seen as his toughest test in over a decade. Speaking outside a polling station, Orban told journalists, 'I'm here to win'. Asked about reports that officials in Brussels might seek to challenge the outcome if he secured victory, he said, "To deny? No, they have to accept the intention and the will and express the opinion of the people." "We are members of the European Union, and this is the right which belongs to the member states," he added. "We firmly stand on the basis of the national rights and sovereignty." When asked whether he would consider ceding territory to Russia in a hypothetical peace deal if he were leading Ukraine, he replied, "I'm lucky enough not to be Zelensky." Orban's Fidesz faces off with challenger Peter Magyar's Tisza on Sunday, April 12, following a campaign that has been dominated by allegations of election meddling. Orban's government accused the EU and Ukraine of repeated interference in an attempt to install a more pro-Brussels and pro-Kiev administration, following rows over energy and funding. Most notably, Hungary and Slovakia accused Ukraine of halting supplies via the Druzhba oil pipeline from Russia for political reasons - while Kiev claimed it was blocked due to 'Russian strikes' - and Orban subsequently blocked the latest 90-billion-euro loan for Ukraine from the bloc. Budapest also claimed Kiev tried to funnel millions in cash and gold bars to Tisza after shipments were seized from Ukrainian couriers, which Magyar called a 'smear campaign'. Ukraine's Volodymyr Zelensky was even accused of threatening Orban's life, after he suggested he would give the PM's 'address' to his armed forces. Last week, on a trip to Hungary, US Vice President JD Vance called Zelensky's death threat 'completely scandalous' as well as 'preposterous and unacceptable' - and said EU meddling in the election was "one of the worst examples of foreign interference I've ever seen". The European Commission suggested it would raise its comments with the US through 'diplomatic channels'. A recent AtlasIntel poll put the Tisza Party at 52% and Fidesz-KDNP at 39%."
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