By Yasin Okyay
Hungary is holding parliamentary elections on April 12.
There are two parties with a real chance of winning the elections: Fidesz and Tisza. When looked at in a broader context, the contest between them appears to be part of a larger struggle within the EU, between Brussels and the Brussels-opposed European Patriots bloc.
Indeed, in recent days, competing claims from both sides regarding the two parties have taken center stage in the country’s political agenda. The electoral race between Fidesz and Tisza is extending beyond Hungary’s borders.
Russia’s Foreign Intelligence Service (SVR) has alleged that the European Commission, in cooperation with the Kiev administration and the Hungarian diaspora, is planning a “regime change” in Hungary. According to these claims, the EU is secretly backing opposition leader Peter Magyar’s campaign to unseat Prime Minister Viktor Orbán.
On the other hand, The Washington Post reported that Hungary’s Foreign Minister Péter Szijjártó leaked EU secrets to Russia.
We asked political scientist Thibaud Gibelin, a visiting fellow at the Matthias Corvinus Collegium (MCC) in Budapest, about these allegations and the trajectory of the two parties’ election campaigns.
Is there interference in the Hungarian elections? If so, which actors are interfering?
Hungary elections are now an international matter. So, the result of the election interests very much the Brussels and the liberal elite in Europe as Hungary is the obstacle for the federalization of the EU, for more commitment alongside Ukraine in the war, for the question of common debt, migration, mandatory quota and LGBTQ ideology.
On March 21 there was the CPAC Hungary gathering. This is originally this American conservative conference of political action. There, Donald Trump made a speech by video to support Viktor Orbán. Javier Milei came to Hungary for the first time. And there were many influencers and politicians across Europe. The main issue of the conference was to give an alternative to the liberal mainstream.
Two days later, on March 23, there was the big assembly of European Patriots in Budapest. This political group in the European Parliament was co-founded by Fidesz in June 2024 after the last European election. Just like the CPAC Hungary conference, European Patriots celebrated the consensus among patriots on a certain number of fundamental questions like the veto of the nation state at the Council of the European Union for any major question, to stop the federalization process. Marine Le Pen, Geert Wilders, Matteo Salvini, Tom Van Grieken and Vlaams Belang were there.
So yes, there is interference from the supranational trend within the EU that tries to challenge Orban and to put the Tisza party at the top of the country. But this also became an occasion for Fidesz to show to the voters that they are not alone.
There are also allegations that Hungary has leaked information from EU meetings to Russia. What do you think?
That has been spread by the Washington Post. There is no proof, it’s only an allegation. Hungary rejected it.
Hungary has an official position that they defend peace in Ukraine and the reconstruction of security architecture in Europe that includes Russia. This is just the opposite of the pro-war position. And as Hungary keeps its relationship with Russia and wants to build a sustainable partnership based on the common interests, particularly energy supply. For Hungary, of course, talking with Russia, defending common national base interests, has nothing to do with betraying the EU. Hungary is loyal to the EU and the EU interests. They just refuse weapons supply to Ukraine and block the 90-billion-euro loans to Ukraine. But this is not to support Russia, it’s because this is detrimental to Hungary and the EU as a whole.
This is a fierce competition. The Tisza benefits from the international left wing press as we saw in the case of the allegation of leaking information to Russia.
The government’s response to the opposition has been to release an audio recording involving Szabolcs Panyi. Panyi is a Hungarian journalist known for publishing investigative reports critical of the government. In this recording, he says that he has been tracking civil servants in the Ministry of Foreign Affairs in order to create a kind of “spoils system” to expel all the civil servants loyal to Fidesz in the event of an opposition victory. He also said he gave the number of Péter Szijjártó to intelligence services in Europe so that they can monitor him.
Of course, it is a big scandal. There is an audio document, so there is proof that Szabolcs Panyi is not an independent journalist but is working with foreign intelligence services. Unsurprisingly, Fidesz media reported this much.
Another argument of the Fidesz is of course about the war in Ukraine. I attended a Fidesz meeting last week in the south of Budapest. I asked the young people why they want to vote for Fidesz. They told me because we don’t want to go to war in Ukraine. So, Ukraine would be quite influential to the result of this election.