• War in Ukraine NATO will deploy four battalions in Slovakia, Hungary, Romania and Bulgaria

The Hungarians celebrate this Sunday crucial general elections for the country and for the European Union.

In these elections, which coincide with the holding of the referendum organized by the Government on the controversial law on sexual information for minors, liberal democracy is at stake in the face of the continuity of the illiberal democracy of Prime Minister Viktor Orban.

The leader and founder of the Fidesz party is leading the polls, but his position on the war in Ukraine alongside Russian President Vladimir Putin has prompted the single candidacy of the six opposition parties, led by the conservative and pro-European Peter Marki-Zay.

"Putin or Europe?"

, read the posters with which the opposition has thrown the rest in an electoral campaign that has ended up becoming a referendum between friendship with Russia and reconciliation with the EU, between the violation of international laws or respect for the rule of law .

In its beginnings, the campaign followed the script of the previous ones.

Orban advocated traditional values ​​and the fight against LGBT propaganda, while the opposition focused on overthrowing "the most corrupt government in a thousand years of Magyar history."

The Russian invasion of Ukraine, the influx of refugees into Hungary, and global geopolitical turmoil changed everything.

For the opposition, it is no longer so much about ending the corruption of the system created by Orban as it is about removing a head of state 'in Putin's boot' from power.

"Orban and Putin against the West and Europe: that is what is at stake in these elections. A choice between the dark side or the good side of history," analysts say.

Orban is making balances so he doesn't have to choose.

After

meeting with Putin in Moscow on February 1

and refusing to help Ukraine due to the alleged mistreatment of the Hungarian minority in that country, the prime minister retracted the candles.

Forced by the European Commission, determined to maintain unity among its members in the face of Russian aggression,

Orban was forced to condemn the war,

support sanctions against the Kremlin and, more surprisingly, accept the deployment of troops from NATO in part of its territory.

Moreover

, Orban has opened, albeit reluctantly, his borders

.

Since February 24, Hungary

has hosted more than 130,000 refugees from Ukraine

, according to the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees.

Power, like Paris, well deserves a mass, but behind closed doors, its narrative is the same.

Hungary depends on Russian gas and the company that will develop two nuclear power plants in Paks is Russian.

"Russia guarantees 80% of our country's gas supply. If we turn off the tap, we will not be able to cook or heat ourselves. And without the expansion of the Paks complex, electricity prices would quadruple," argued the pro-government newspaper

Magyar Nemzet

.

On March 15, a holiday in Hungary, Orban appeared at a rally as the "peace" candidate against an opposition "that has lost its mind", "ready to wage a cruel and bloody war", claiming the supply of arms to Ukraine.

On the same day and at the same time, but next to the Danube, the opposition candidate observed a minute of silence for the victims of the war before a multitude of Ukrainian and European flags.

Marki-Zay called for the vote "for the right side of history"

and promised to reconcile Hungary and the EU, whose relations have been damaged by the Fidesz governments.

With virtually all media in the hands of like-minded, Orban's narrative has been dominant.

The latest example was on March 24, when Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky directly challenged him in a conversation with European leaders.

"Viktor, do you know what is happening in Mariupol?" he asked at the European Council, asking Hungary to "decide once and for all which side he is on."

Orban took refuge in national interests, but his response was so unsatisfactory that the next day, public television gave him a ten-minute platform in prime time to justify himself and campaign.

Since it was an extra electoral space, the opposition demanded the same time and in the same slot.

Unsuccessfully.

The question that arises this Sunday is whether Orban's propaganda and supposed neutrality will give him victory over an opposition more united than ever and that has not hesitated to remind voters how those who lived through the invasion of Budapest in 1956 by the Red Army to brutally crush the anti-Soviet revolution.

No country heeded Hungary's call for help.

surveys

According to a poll by the pro-government institute Nézopont,

Orban would obtain 49% of the vote, compared to 41% for his rival

.

Added to this is that the Hungarian electoral system, through its administrative division, is favorable to Orban. Even so, "the war in Ukraine has begun to shake Orban's system," says historian Pierre Gradvohl.

For now, what has been shaken is the Visegrad group, which Hungary forms with the Czech Republic, Slovakia and Poland, countries that have taken a clear position against Russia.

So clear that they go even further than Brussels and NATO are willing to do to support the Ukrainian defense.

Orban refrained from traveling to kyiv with his Polish, Czech and Slovenian colleagues and Poland, at least for now, will not give the Hungarian prime minister another chance to get on the train.

On March 23, the Hungarian president, János Áder, had to cancel the visit he had planned to make with his Polish counterpart, Andrzej Duda, to the Polish city of Bochnia, on the occasion of the day of Polish-Hungarian friendship.

And shortly after, Hungary had to cancel the Visegrad defense ministers' meeting due to the refusal of the Polish and Slovak ministers to participate in it.

Czech Defense Minister Jana Ernochová lamented on Twitter that "cheap Russian oil is more important to Hungarian politicians than Ukrainian blood."

Singled out in the EU, isolated in the Visegrad group, Orban is left without allies and with one of them, Poland, he has maintained a blockade clamp in Brussels for mutual benefit.

If the rupture of the Polish-Hungarian axis due to the crisis in Ukraine is maintained, the EU will win.

If Marki-Zay wins, he will lose illiberal democracy in Eastern Europe.

Conforms to The Trust Project criteria

Know more

  • Hungary

  • Ukraine

  • Poland

  • Russia

  • NATO

  • Slovakia

  • Europe

  • European Comission

  • berlin

  • European Union

  • Victor Orbán

  • Vladimir Putin

War in UkraineKristina Spohr: "If Russia attacks Europe, we will have to defend ourselves with weapons"

War in Ukraine NATO will deploy four battalions in Slovakia, Hungary, Romania and Bulgaria

War in UkraineFacebook will temporarily allow posts calling for violence against Russians and Putin's death

See links of interest

  • Last News

  • Oscar Winners 2022

  • Will Smith

  • Translator

  • Work calendar 2022

  • what is the kremlin

  • Liverpool-Watford

  • Getafe - Majorca

  • Spezia - Venice

  • Sport-Club Freiburg - FC Bayern Muenchen

  • TSG Hoffenheim - VfL Bochum 1848