Hungary's Fidesz wins two-thirds majority

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BUDAPEST, Hungary, April 26 (UPI) -- Hungary's conservative party Fidesz won a huge general election victory, regulating the ruling Socialists to a distant second place, officials said Monday.

After Sunday's second-round voting and more than 99 percent of votes counted, the opposition Fidesz party had won nearly 68 percent of the poll, Hungary's national election committee said Monday. The Socialists came in second at 15 percent, with the far-right Jobbik party scoring 12 percent.

Fidesz leader Viktor Orban is to become prime minister. He is to lead a powerful single-party government as the two-thirds majority hands Fidesz the ability to change the constitution.

"We saw a revolution in the polling stations," Orban was quoted by BBC News as saying.

The leaders of the Socialist party who led the country for the past eight years resigned.

Hungary's political turnaround was widely expected. Voters have been frustrated by the Socialists' problems in dealing with the Hungarian budget and stop the rise of unemployment, still towering at more than 11 percent.

When Socialist Prime Minister Ferenc Gyurcsany in 2006 admitted lying to the public, angry protesters took the streets and forced his resignation.

The country has since suffered economically. Hungary in 2009 became the first EU member to ask the International Monetary Fund for a $27 billion bailout.