Hungary is at a crossroads between Europe and 'dictators', opposition leader says

SALGOTARJAN, Hungary, Feb 26 - Hungary's upcoming election is about whether it can cement its place as a European nation and revive its stagnating economy with crucial EU funds or drift eastwards into the authoritarian camp, opposition leader Peter Magyar told Reuters. Read more at straitstimes.com.

SALGOTARJAN, Hungary, Feb 26 - Hungary's upcoming election is about whether it can cement its place as a European nation and revive its stagnating economy with crucial EU funds or drift eastwards into the authoritarian camp, opposition leader Peter Magyar told Reuters.

In the April 12 vote, Magyar's centre-right Tisza party poses the most serious threat to nationalist Prime Minister Viktor Orban's 16-year grip on power and to his vaunted brand of what he calls "illiberal democracy".

The election will also be a test for Europe's far-right forces as the EU struggles to deal with a more assertive Russia, the war in Ukraine, and the diplomatic and economic challenges of Donald Trump's "Make America Great Again" presidency.

Magyar, speaking on the campaign trail, took aim at Orban's warm ties with Russia and other former Soviet republics such as Kazakhstan and Azerbaijan, and his decision to secure observer status for Hungary in the Organisation of Turkic States.

"This will be a referendum: I think it is clear that the choice is between Europe or the Turkic council and dictators," Magyar said in an interview in Salgotarjan, a former mining town, after a rally that attracted hundreds in frosty weather.

"It is about whether Hungary continues these 16 years of decline ... or we set off to Europe and development, joining the Poles, Slovenians, Czechs and the Baltic states."