There are those who have been ensnared by scaremongers painting a nightmarish image of a country moving towards fascism

Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban

Voters from all over the country waved Hungarian flags and wore red, white and green coloured ribbons, jamming side streets around Budapest's Kossuth Square as they gathered to hear the prime minister speak.

In a 40-minute address broadcast live on national television, Mr Orban blamed last weekend's defeat on opposition efforts to tarnish the party's image at home and abroad.

"There are those who have been ensnared by scaremongers painting a nightmarish image of a country moving towards fascism which will be thrown out of the EU," he said.

Biggest ever gathering?

Despite fears that the increasing left-right polarisation in the country would spill over into clashes between rival groups, the rally was peaceful and good-humoured.

Orban's campaign has focused on family and nationalist values

Opposition parties had previously called on their supporters to respect the events organised by Fidesz and the far-right Justice and Life Party (MIEP), which also had a presence at the rally.

The rally's organisers claimed the crowd numbered two million, although television reports put the figure between 400,000-600,000.

The BBC's Nick Thorpe says it may still have been the biggest ever gathering in Hungarian history.

Mr Orban used much of his speech to lambaste the opposition's record in government between 1994 and 1998 and to list the achievements of his administration over the past four years.

He said a victory by the opposition Socialist Party would threaten those reforms.

However, the socialists responded by saying they intended to preserve some ruling party policies, such as student loans and family subsidies programmes.

'Love and unity'

Mr Orban urged each supporter to take at least one person with them to vote, in order to close the gap between his party - which drew 41.1% of last weekend's vote, and the Socialists, who notched up 42%.

"There has to be more of us every day," he said.

He closed his speech with a call for an atmosphere of love and unity, which has widely been seen as a move to try to calm mudslinging which has characterised much of the election campaigning.