Viktor Orban, the leader of Hungary's main conservative opposition, told supporters on Saturday that his Fidesz party was intent on winning a two-thirds majority in the next parliamentary elections in 2010, giving the government the right to change the constitution.

Orban said that Hungary had been ruled by the left since 1947 with the exception of a few years of conservative governance. Now was time for the right to win enough votes to change the political balance, he said.

Several laws are protected by the constitutional requirement for a two-thirds majority in parliament, which has meant that electing the president and changing, for example, the media law has required either cross-party cooperation or support from the opposition, since no party since the change of political system in 1989-1990 commanded more than a simple majority.

"We are, naturally, going to make use of the trust given to us by the voters in the proportion to which it is given," said Orban, adding that he expected to win a two-thirds majority.

According to several recent polls, Fidesz commands sufficient support to win a landslide against the embattled minority governing Socialist party. None of the small parliamentary parties are likely to make it back into parliament on the basis of current polling evidence.