VIENNA, April 6 -- Hungarian leader Viktor Orban's officially declared wealth is fairly modest: some savings and a jointly owned villa in Budapest.

But voters in what Transparency International deems the EU's most corrupt country believe otherwise.

And they may make Orban pay in a general election on April 12 that could spell an end to his 16-year rule.

The wealth amassed by Orban's inner circle is fuelling the increasingly palpable frustration of a population grappling with sluggish growth, high inflation and worsening public services.

"The government's communication machine worked well as long as our economic situation remained relatively good," Zoltan Ranschburg, a political analyst at the Republikon think tank, told AFP.

But it h...