In two months, Hungarians will elect a parliament — and polls show that Orban is in a losing position. The leader of the opposition party, Tisza, took the lead. Peter Magyar, 44, condemns the corruption of Orban's government and wants to pursue an EU-friendly policy.
The survey by Centrum Rozwoju 21, published on Tuesday, February 3, gives 16 percentage points. advantage of the opposition Tisza party over the ruling Fidesz. For the Hungarian Prime Minister, this means the need to take desperate measures. However, this may be a dead end for him.
Orban has been in power since 2010 and in his fifth term, he has a two-thirds majority in parliament. However, support for “Viktator” is systematically falling.
A poll conducted between January 28 and February 2 gave Tisha 35 percent. support among all voters. This is a slight increase compared to 34%. from a study conducted by the same center in December.
Peter MagyarJanos Kummer / Stringer / Getty Images
Fidesz currently obtained 28 percent. support. This means a decrease from 26 percent. in December.
Facing mounting political pressure, Orban decided to once again toughen his tone towards his neighbor. He stated that Ukraine is not an “opponent, but an enemy” – as long as Kiev demands that Hungary give up importing energy resources from Russia.
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“They (Ukrainians) want to cut off Hungary from cheap Russian energy. As long as Ukraine does this, Ukraine is – sorry for the choice of words – our enemy,” Orban said at an event in the western Hungarian city of Szombathely.
Putin's closest ally in the EU stated:
Ukraine violates our fundamental interests by constantly demanding this [rezygnacji z rosyjskich surowców] and inciting Brussels to cut off Hungary from cheap energy from Russia.
“Whoever does this is not an opponent for Hungary, but an enemy,” the Hungarian Prime Minister emphasized. In the face of the difficult economic situation in Hungary, Orban is fighting the EU ban on gas imports. This is to stabilize energy prices in his country.
“They are dragging us into war”
The EU Council recently decided to ban the purchase of Russian gas until 2027. This is intended to reduce revenues to Vladimir Putin's war budget. Hungary and Slovakia – both countries friendly to Moscow and heavily dependent on Russian gas – have filed a complaint to the European Court of Justice on this matter.
Orban also clearly rejected Ukraine's accession to the EU. Although Hungary must cooperate with its neighbor, Budapest believes that Kiev should never become a member of the EU. “Hungarians should not want military or economic cooperation with Ukrainians, because they are dragging us into war,” said the head of the Hungarian government.
The war in Ukraine and its unpredictable consequences allegedly do not concern Hungary. However, according to Orban, the victims of Kiev's actions are ethnic Hungarians in the Transcarpathia region.
The war in Ukraine is one of the most important topics of the election campaign for Orban. He claims that Brussels “decided” that the war will last at least until 2030. However, he does not criticize Putin, who launched a full-scale invasion of Ukraine in 2022.
Reasons for Orban's weakening
— For the first time, there was hope for a breakthrough in all segments of Hungarian society, explains Daniel Hegedues, an expert responsible for Central Europe at the American think tank German Marshall Fund, in an interview with “Die Welt”.
The analyst emphasizes that one of the main factors leading to the decline in support for the ruling Fidesz is deteriorating economic situation in Hungary. In 2023, the country fell into recession. To make matters worse for Orban, the government has to struggle with high inflation.
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