BUDAPEST (Reuters) - Anti-government protesters have filled Budapest's streets in recent weeks, but divisions within the opposition and weak support outside the capital mean they are unlikely to herald a serious threat to Prime Minister Viktor Orban in next year's election.
Triggered by a law targeting an international school founded by liberal U.S. financier George Soros, the rallies have galvanized broader public anger against Orban's ambition to create an "illiberal democracy".
They accuse Orban of engineering a crackdown on civil dissent, eroding democratic values and spreading hostility towards the European Union while cozying up to Russia.
But the protesters, mostly young and urban, have found little in common with opposition politicians jostling for position ahead of next year's election and struggling to shake off the perception of incompetence and corruption.
Orban's Fidesz has a lead in opinion polls, with its 30-percent support dwarfing its closest rivals, the Socialists and the radical nationalist Jobbik, both at about 10 percent. The rest of the opposition is fragmented between several small parties.
Emerging market investors expect the political status quo to hold since Hungary is economically stable and the protests have not posed a risk to Orban's grip on power.
Orban and his Fidesz party also seem relaxed, with the prime minister saying he feels bemused at the rallies.
The lack of interest in protests among the 80 percent of Hungarians who live outside the capital also makes it unlikely they would have much of an impact. The largest rally drew about a thousand people in Szeged, and that only once.