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Hungary's 'Revolutionary' Orban Sworn In as Premier

Fresh from a landslide election win in April, Hungary's powerful premier Viktor Orban was formally sworn in as prime minister Saturday, and hailed his controversial reforms as revolutionary.

"Since coming to power (in 2010), a revolution has happened in Hungary," Orban told several thousand supporters at a celebration rally afterwards outside the parliament building in Budapest.

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Hungary's Orban Retains Two-Thirds Legislative Majority

Hungary's Prime Minister Viktor Orban retained his controlling two-thirds majority in parliament following last week's election, a final ballot count revealed early Sunday, giving him free legislative rein for the next four years.

"(Orban's ruling) Fidesz party won a two-thirds parliamentary majority at the April 6 election," a statement published by state news agency MTI read.

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Disputed Hungary Holocaust Monument Sparks Fresh Protest

Several hundred protesters blocked work on a controversial monument in Budapest Tuesday which Jewish critics say glosses over Hungary's active role in the Holocaust.

Around 300 people angrily tore down a cordon erected by workers and occupied the site of the planned monument, which the Hungarian government says will mark all the victims of Hungary's occupation by Nazi Germany in 1944.

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Hungary's Orban Romps to Victory as Far-Right Makes Gains

Hungary's Prime Minister Viktor Orban Monday savoured a decisive election victory that gives him almost free rein during four more years in power, even as the far-right made fresh gains.

"Voters said yes to our new legal system, including our new constitution, to a new economic model based on work, and to a government led by a popular European party," the pugnacious Orban, 50, proclaimed a day after the vote.

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Prime Minister Party Wins Hungary Election

Hungary's strongman Prime Minister Viktor Orban looked to have won a clear victory in elections on Sunday, with exit polls giving his Fidesz party a wide lead over the opposition.

Fidesz won 48 percent of the vote, well ahead of the left-wing opposition alliance on 27 percent, with the far-right Jobbik winning 18 percent, the exit polls showed.

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Orban Strong Favorite as Hungary Holds Elections

Hungarians voted Sunday in elections that looked set to see political bruiser Prime Minister Victor Orban coast to victory after four turbulent years that have seen him labeled both savior and autocrat.

Opinion polls indicate that the only questions were whether Orban, 50, can retain his two-thirds parliamentary majority and if the far-right Jobbik might beat a wobbly center-left opposition alliance into second place.

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Hungary Opposition Seeks to Prove Polls Wrong

The chief candidate of Hungary's rickety center-left opposition alliance predicted Saturday on the eve of elections that he would defy the opinion polls and defeat Prime Minister Viktor Orban.

"I don't care about the polls, people are afraid of expressing their views," Attila Mesterhazy, head of the Socialist party and the alliance's joint candidate for premier, told Agence France Presse.

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Huge pre-Election March for Hungary's PM Orban

Tens of thousands of supporters of Hungary's Prime Minister Viktor Orban marched through Budapest Saturday in a show of strength before a parliamentary election early next month.

The crowd gathered at the parliament building on Kossuth Square in the Hungarian capital -- reopened earlier this month after a lavish renovation -- before a so-called "peace march" through the city center.

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Hungary Anti-Orban Opposition Hopes for Decisive Rally

Hungary's opposition hopes Saturday to bring tens of thousands of supporters onto the streets and give its troubled bid to unseat Prime Minister Viktor Orban in elections next month a major boost.

But beating Orban, hot favorite to repeat his landslide electoral win of 2010, looks a formidable task for the patchwork center-left alliance, forged only in January after lengthy and tortuous negotiations.

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Three EU Ministers to Visit Ukraine Thursday

The foreign ministers of Hungary, Slovakia and Czech Republic will visit Kiev on Thursday where they hope to meet with the new government, Budapest said Wednesday.

Kiev's new leaders are due to unveil a unity cabinet on Wednesday afternoon following the dramatic ouster of pro-Russian president Viktor Yanukovych after months of protests sparked by his rejection of an association agreement with the EU.

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