Tens of Thousands of Hungarians Protest Against Orban

BUDAPEST (Reuters) - Tens of thousands of Hungarians protested in Budapest on Saturday against what organizers said was an unfair election system that gave Prime Minister Viktor Orban a landslide victory at the polls after a "hate campaign" against immigrants.

Orban won a third straight term in power in Sunday elections after his anti-immigration campaign message secured a strong majority for his ruling Fidesz party in parliament, giving him two-thirds of seats based on preliminary results.

In a Facebook post before the rally, organizers called for a recount of ballots, free media, a new election law, as well as more efficient cooperation among opposition parties instead of the bickering seen in the run-up to the vote.

The protest was among the biggest in Hungary in recent years, similar in size to a mass rally prompted by Orban's plan to tax internet use four years ago and a pro-government demonstration called by Orban supporters shortly before the election.

Fidesz received 49 percent of national party list votes and its candidates won 91 of 106 single-member constituencies, most of them in rural areas. Leftist opposition candidates carried two-thirds of the voting districts in Budapest.

There was a similar split between ages, with support for Orban's Fidesz at 37 percent among voters below 30, rising gradually to 46 percent among those older than 50, according to a survey by think tank Median published earlier this week.

The Organisation for Security and Cooperation in Europe has said the election did not offer opposition parties a level playing field amid a host of problems marring a vote that nonetheless generally respected fundamental rights.

In their Facebook post, the rally's organizers said: "Fidesz's election system and the...