Hungary Election Nears as Candidates Face Claims of Russian Links

Hungarian Prime Minister Vitkor Orbán faces perhaps the most consequential test of his 16-year rule as voters prepare to go to the polls on 12 April.

Opinion polls put his nationalist Fidesz party nine points behind the centre-right Tisza party, led by Péter Magyar, a 44-year-old lawyer and former Fidesz insider now running a vigorous challenge.

Mr Magyar has ridden a platform focused on anti-corruption and business-friendly reform, building momentum after strong showings for his party in European and local ballots in 2024.

Economic stagnation and voter fatigue with Fidesz — especially in cities that have drifted away from the ruling party after years of easy victories over a fragmented left and liberal opposition — have also boosted Tisza’s appeal.

Mr Magyar has pledged to steer Hungary closer to the West and to cooperate with the EU to restore billions in cohesion funds that remain frozen because of Fidesz-era rule-of-law changes.

He would maintain Hungary’s long-standing refusal to send arms to Ukraine and has promised a referendum on whether Hungary should support Ukraine’s EU accession, while nonetheless condemning Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.

Peter Magyar greets supporters during a rally ahead of the general election

In 2024 he travelled to Kyiv and paid respects at the Wall of Remembrance of the Fallen, honouring Ukrainians killed since Russia’s full-scale invasion — a display of solidarity that would have been unthinkable from Hungary’s current premier.

Mr Orbán’s Fidesz has made the Ukraine war a focal point of its campaign, echoing its strategy from the 2024 local contests: cast the government as peacemakers and the opposition as warmongers.

Campaign posters plastered around Budapest depict Mr Magyar alongside European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen and Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky under the caption: “Ok, the decision”.

Other posters show a smiling Mr Zelensky with the slogan: “Let’s not let Zelensky have the last laugh”.

Blunt and polarising, that messaging has proven effective before: Fidesz secured the last four parliamentary victories, each time with a two-thirds majority.

That super-majority allowed the party to alter Hungary’s constitution, curb judicial independence and reshape state media — and to enact a contentious 2021 anti-LGBTQ law banning the promotion of homosexuality and gender change in media and materials aimed at minors.

Russia has an interest in keeping Mr Orbán in power: a defeat for Fidesz would strip Moscow of a prominent political and economic ally inside the EU.

On Saturday, the Washington Post reported that Russia’s foreign intelligence service, the SVR, proposed staging an assassination attempt on Mr Orbán to sway the campaign and bolster Fidesz’s standing.

A Fidesz election poster depicting Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky in Budapest

The Post said its account was based on an internal SVR document obtained by a European intelligence service and shared with the newspaper.

That article also cited a European security official alleging Hungary’s foreign minister, Péter Szijjarto, provided live updates from EU foreign affairs meetings to his Russian counterpart, Sergey Lavrov, allegedly telephoning during breaks.

Mr Szijjarto dismissed the claims as “fake news” on X, while Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov called the reporting “disinformation”.

A spokesperson for the European Commission said yesterday the institution was worried by reports of possible information-sharing and asked the Hungarian government for explanations.

Mr Orbán meanwhile ordered an investigation into what he described as the wiretapping of his foreign minister.

Earlier this month, independent Hungarian outlet VSquare reported that three Russian operatives were already active in Hungary, working to manipulate social media ahead of the April vote — a story VSquare said was based on interviews with three unnamed European intelligence agencies.

A Fidesz defeat would have an immediate consequence for Ukraine: it could unlock a €90bn EU loan intended to cover Kyiv’s budgetary needs over the next two years.

Mr Orbán initially approved the loan at an EU Council summit in December, but reversed course last month, pointing to slow repairs to the Druzhba oil pipeline — damaged by Russian drone strikes last year — as his justification. Hungary and Slovakia remain the only two EU members still importing Russian oil directly.

Ukraine has since appealed to the EU for assistance to repair the pipeline as part of a compromise to remove Hungary’s veto.

Ballot papers are checked at a printing company

Mr Orbán is not short on high-profile backers: many of Europe’s nationalist figures travelled to Budapest yesterday for a Patriots for Europe gathering, the European Parliament group he established in 2024 that brings together nationalist and far-right parties.

Attendees included France’s Marine Le Pen, Italy’s Matteo Salvini and Dutch politician Geert Wilders.

Poland’s President Karol Nawrocki also visited Budapest to meet Mr Orbán; Mr Nawrocki shares the Hungarian leader’s nationalist leanings and admiration for US President Donald Trump, though not necessarily Mr Orbán’s openness toward Moscow.

On Saturday, Mr Trump released a video endorsing Mr Orbán to delegates at CPAC Hungary, the Budapest conference that draws right-wing figures from Europe and North America.

Such endorsements will resonate with Fidesz loyalists, but for many centrist voters the pressing issues are different: a sluggish economy at home and strained ties with the EU after years of Budapest’s rule-of-law clashes may prove decisive at the ballot box.