the times | Monday April 4 2022 2GM 29Tokyo’s tower of tiny pod
homes is coming down
Page 30Orban taunts EU as
he declares another
victory at the polls
Hungary
Bruno Waterfield BudapestVucic set for victory
President Vucic was on course to
win a second term in office after
Serbians voted yesterday (Jack
Parrock writes). Projections based
on early results suggested that the
former prime minister, who became
president in 2017, would easily reach
more than the 50 per cent needed
in the first round to prevent a runoff.
Vucic, 52, controls most of
Serbia’s media and hired a public
relations company to run a
campaign touting the slogan “Peace,
Security, Vucic”, which is broadcast
repeatedly on TV and radio.
The war in Ukraine has increased
his popularity. Voters have been
reminded of their dislike of Nato
after it bombed Serbia for 78 days in
1999 during the Kosovo War.
Serbia has not imposed sanctions
on Russia. A survey last year found
that 83 per cent of Serbians saw
Moscow as a “friend”. But Serbia is a
candidate to join the European
Union and the winner of the election
will face pressure from the bloc to
align with western sanctions.Viktor Orban has declared victory as
prime minister of Hungary in his fourth
consecutive election win after comfort-
ably beating off a six-party united
opposition alliance.
Orban, 58, was already the EU’s long-
est serving leader and he is expected to
use the extension of his 12 years in office
to consolidate his project of building
“illiberal democracy” in Hungary.
His success will be met with dismay
by other European leaders after a series
of rows between Orban and the EU
over judicial independence, academic
freedom and gay rights.
“We have won a huge victory, we
have won such a victory that it can even
be seen from the moon, but it is
definitely seen from Brussels,” he said,
taunting the EU.
Critics say that since sweeping to
power in 2010 Orban has used his large
parliamentary majorities to undermine
the “rule of law” and democracy. He has
also been accused of fostering wide-
spread corruption to enrich his family
and inner circle.
Partial results last night indicated
that Orban could retain his two-thirds
supermajority, giving him carte
blanche to continue building a
Hungarian model of politics based on
Christianity, the family and nation, in
opposition to western liberalism.
“The whole world has seen tonight in
Budapest that Christian democratic
politics, conservative civic politics and
patriotic politics have won. We are
telling Europe that this is not the past,
this is the future,” Orban said,
With 86 per cent of the vote counted,
Orban’s Fidesz was on 54 per cent of the
vote; the opposition had 34 per cent.
Peter Szijjarto, the foreign minister,
dismissed international criticism of
Orban, particularly of his refusal to side
against Russia and refusal to allow any
Nato arms supplies into Ukraine acrossHungary’s territory. “We have never
been interested in whether we are
praised from abroad or not, we are
interested in the opinions of the Hun-
garian people,” he said. “Who cares?”
Peter Marki-Zay, known as MZP, the
leader of the United opposition, a coali-
tion spanning the left to far-right, had
challenged Orban on the basis that he
had betrayed Hungary by siding with
Putin over Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.
Marki-Zay, 49, a devout Roman
Catholic conservative who is staunchly
pro-EU, made his concession speech
surrounded by his seven children. “This
result shows that after 12 years of brain-
washing Orban can win any election in
this country,” he said.Hunt for drive-by gunmen who
left six dead and twelve injured
Six people were killed and twelve
injured during a shooting in a busy
Californian nightlife district yesterday.
Police were looking for “multiple”
gunmen last night and no one was in
custody after the incident in downtown
Sacramento, officers said.
Kathy Lester, the city’s police chief,
added: “We are asking for the public’s
help to identify the suspects and pro-
vide any information they can.” Three
of those killed were women and three
were men. All were adults.
Video posted on Twitter showed
people running through the street with
the sound of rapid gunfire in the back-
ground. Separate footage showed
several ambulances at the scene.
Police said they had recovered at
least one firearm and were reviewingvideo footage posted on social media
that showed what appeared to be an
altercation before the gunfire erupted.
They said it was not yet clear if the fight
was related to the shooting.
Reports from witnesses suggested
that shots from an automatic weapon
were fired from a car at about 2am.
Barry Accius, a community activist,
arrived at the scene at about 2.30am
after a city council member called him,
he told the local channel KXTV.
“It was just horrific,” he said. “Police
all over the place, victims with blood all
over their bodies, folks screaming, folks
crying... Mothers crying and trying to
identify who their child was.”
Darrell Steinberg, the city’s mayor,
said: “We await more information
about what transpired in this tragic
incident. Rising gun violence is the
scourge of our city, state and nation.”Foreign StaffPETER KOHALMI/AFP/GETTY IMAGESlooms large in the minds of voters, who wore national dress to the polls in Veresegyhaz, a small town north of Budapest‘puts official photographer out of picture’
ning Team Publishing, a new company
set up by Donald Trump Jr, the former
president’s eldest son, and Sergio Gor, a
veteran Republican operative.
Pictures taken by the White House
photographer are considered to be in
the public domain and not subject to
copyright. But previous official photog-
raphers have secured large advances
for books of their pictures with their
own commentary.
Craighead, 45, confirmed that her
own plans for a Trump book were on
hold and she would not, for now, be
following Pete Souza, the official
photographer throughout the Obama
presidency. His book Obama: An Inti-
mate Portrait was a bestseller.
Craighead was previously the official
photographer for Laura Bush when she
was first lady.
“Shea’s a very talented photographer
and this was really all of her hard work,”
said Stephanie Grisham, a formerWhite House press secretary under
Trump. “I just keep thinking: what a
shame that he is actually now profiting
off of it.”
Craighead did not want to comment
on issues concerning a former client.
“I stay as apolitical as possible, as
I am a neutral historical docu-
mentarian,” she told The New York
Times. “By staying neutral I am
able to remain a keen observer.”
Trump’s spokesman, Taylor Bud-
owich, said that the former presi-
dent wanted to take charge of
the project to memorialise his
term in office. “President
Trump has always had an eye
for beautiful and engaging
curation, which came alive
through the pages of his
book,” he said.
The 317-page Our Journey
Together published in Decem-
ber, features about 300 pic-tures and mentions the names of the
photographers on the last page. Trump
writes of his “grateful acknowledg-
ment” to “all the phenomenal White
House photographers” and lists them
by name, including Craighead, who
took the majority of those selected.
Each photo is accompanied by a
brief commentary from Trump,
such as “Attempting to listen to cra-
zy Nancy Pelosi in the Oval Office
— such natural disagreement”
and next to a photo of the late
Senator John McCain, one
of his adversaries: “Asking
for a job for his wife and I
am smiling but I didn’t like
him even a little bit.”Shealah
Craighead was
President
Trump’s official
photographer