BUDAPEST, Sept 21 — Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban today endorsed Donald Trump in his reelection bid for the U.S. presidency, saying his rival Democrats have forced a "moral imperialism" on the world that illiberal leaders like himself reject.

"We root for Donald Trump's victory, because we know well American Democratic governments' diplomacy, built on moral imperialism. We have been forced to sample it before, we did not like it, we do not want seconds,” Orban wrote in an essay.

Nationalist Orban faces parliamentary elections in early 2022 amid a steep challenge to his decade-long rule as Hungary braces for the economic and social impact of a second wave of novel coronavirus infections.

The vote would be decisive as the international liberal elite was out to destroy Christian conservatives in Europe, he said.

Hungary and other central European countries would place economic efficiency over European Union policies such as "climate goals elevated to absurdity, a social Europe, a common tax code and a multicultural society,” he said. — Reuters