The two parties which make up Hungary's Socialist-led coalition government emerged in a virtual tie with the rightist opposition from the first round of general elections on Sunday, an exit poll showed according to Reuters. The poll, from the first election since the ex-communist nation entered the European Union in 2004, showed the opposition Fidesz party won most votes, 45 percent, while the Socialists of Prime Minister Ferenc Gyurcsany won 43 percent. The Socialists' junior coalition partners, the liberal Free Democrats, passed the 5 percent threshold needed to enter parliament, which analysts had said was key to the government standing any chance of remaining in power. "Our results are showing a near tie situation," Tarki Chairman Tamas Kolosi told Hungarian television. Partial results are expected to stream in throughout the evening and 95 percent of the votes should be counted by 2100 GMT. If they confirm the exit poll findings, the result will set the scene for a fierce battle between Gyurcsany and his Fidesz rival Viktor Orban to win the second ballot on April 23. The second round is necessary because of Hungary's complex electoral system, which uses a mix of proportional representation and first past-the-post systems to allocate parliament's 386 seats. All individual constituencies where candidates fail to win an outright majority require a run-off between the top two contenders. The election has pitted the government's message that Hungary should embrace globalisation, against Orban's promise to support a "patriotic" economic policy. Neither side has addressed what analysts see as the most urgent challenge the country faces: its ballooning fiscal and current account deficits, which analysts say may spark a currency crisis unless they are tackled. With most of Hungary basking in sunny spring weather, officials said turnout was high -- 61 percent by 1530 GMT. Analysts say a high turnout would favour Gyurcsany, a charismatic millionaire who has modernised his Socialist Party along Britain's "New Labour". His win would mark the first time any post-communist Hungarian government won a second consecutive term. His conservative opponents have portrayed Gyurcsany and his party, heirs to the once all-powerful Communist party, as sleazy "limousine socialists" who cater only to the rich.
