BUDAPEST As Hungarians prepare to vote in Sunday's first round of elections, forecasts of warm, sunny weather and a lacklustre campaign are seen benefiting the ruling Socialists over their nearest challengers. Final opinion polls put little space between the two front-runners, Prime Minister Gyula Horn's Cocialist Party and the youthful centre-right Fidesz Hungarian Civic Party, led by 36-year-old Viktor Orban. Each have around 30 percent of decided voters, well ahead of all other parties.

The warm weather doesn't help those parties which have young supporters because they go out of the city enjoying the weather and not participating in the election, Istvan Stumpf, head of politics at the Academy of Sciences told Reuters. And that, of course, hurts Fidesz More. Polling stations will be open from 0400 GMT to 1700 GMT on Sunday and the first preliminary results are expected around 1745 GMT. The second round of the elections will be held on May 24.

Political analyst Attila Ledenyi also said Socialist supporters would be likely to be more disciplined in turning out to vote than Fidesz sympathizers. (Reuter)