How Orban benefits from Hungary's tailor-made election system
www.france24.com

... Peter Magyar's centre-right Tisza Party might be comfortably ahead in Hungary's parliamentary election polls but he is far from guaranteed victory in Sunday's vote. The country's electoral system has been designed to support ruling Prime Minister Viktor Orban's Fidesz party -- and any institutions that are working in his favour " every step of the way. ...

But although the populist and nationalist leader, who has ruled Hungary unchallenged for the past 16 years, might appear to be struggling, he also has a number of assets up his sleeve.

The first of these is a mixed electoral system tailor-made to benefit his far-right Fidesz party. In 2011, backed by a two-thirds majority, Orban pushed through a controversial law reducing the number of seats in parliament, as well as redrawing electoral districts designed to maximise the conservative party's chances.

"This gerrymandering has become a bona fide national pastime," said Paul Gradvohl, a Central Europe history professor at Paris 1 Panthon-Sorbonne University, with a hint of irony.

"The aim is to use the results of previous elections to take from Peter to give to Paul. In constituencies where Fidesz won by a large margin, less supportive districts have been added, and in return, the opposition has been stripped of seats where it had a chance of winning." ...