Hungary is no stranger to extremely harsh election campaigns. For decades, Viktor Orban, whether in power or in opposition, has followed the same pattern: months before the election, he campaigns in which he conveys that the survival of the Hungarian nation is in question.
In these campaigns, he presents himself as the only one who can save Hungary and its people from the evil and threats of the country's enemies.
Hungary is set to elect a new parliament on April 12th, and this time the campaign is more negative than ever before.
Nonsense and fabrications
Orban, his government and the Fidesz party have no problem using taxpayers' money to "paint" the country with thousands of anti-Ukrainian posters, organize a "national petition" against the European Union and Ukraine, and flood social media with fake videos - generated by artificial intelligence - about the opposition.
All of these videos have something in common: they spread nonsense and fabrications. The prime minister and his team essentially claim that if Orban loses the election, the country will be plunged into war, mobilization on the Ukrainian front, as well as enslavement and mass impoverishment due to tax increases from Brussels.
Considering such an extreme campaign, Gábor Torok - normally a rather restrained political analyst - is already talking about the "decline and breakdown" of political culture.
Can Orbán lose the elections?
The cause of this political upheaval is the real possibility that Orban will lose power for the first time since 2010. Citizens, in general, are tired of what they see as the corrupt, arrogant and autocratic system of Viktor Orbán.
For months now, Peter Magar and his opposition party Tisa have been leading the polls clearly and convincingly.
At the same time, the prime minister and his government are facing the consequences of a series of their own public scandals, which could be classified as "lies and double standards."
Child abuse scandal
The first of these scandals concerns violence and sexual abuse of minors in a juvenile detention center in Budapest. New details have been coming to light for months.
That institution, which was practically a brutal prison for young delinquents, has since been closed. Videos showing shocking violence by staff against residents have been leaked to the public.
Government representatives have allegedly known about the conditions in the institution for a long time, but have failed to react – even though "child protection" and families, with its pronounced homophobic rhetoric, are one of the main themes of Orban's government.
The government, in fact, often presents itself as the protector of Hungarian children from "LGBTQ+ propaganda from Brussels" and the abuses it allegedly leads to.
Orban and some members of his government and party even suggested a few weeks ago that the victims themselves were partly responsible, emphasizing that they were the perpetrators. This, as many interpreted it, effectively sent a message that civil and human rights can be taken away at will. This provoked even stronger resistance in a part of Hungarian society.
Ignoring health risks in a battery factory
Hungary has also been rocked by revelations about environmental and health risks at Samsung's battery factory in God, north of Budapest. According to research by the Hungarian portal Telex.hu, workers were exposed to toxic heavy metal particles for years, and that dust has seeped into the air, soil and groundwater.
Documents show that in some cases the values were up to 500 times higher than permitted. The Hungarian government was allegedly aware of this. It is claimed that even the domestic intelligence service warned the authorities of the catastrophic situation. However, according to the allegations, Foreign Minister Péter Szijjártó prevented the closure of the plant.
There are also claims that when the investigative portal Atlatszo.hu first reported on the case in early 2024, the government was considering how to silence the media.
This story is particularly significant because Orbán's government has been strongly encouraging the development of battery manufacturing in Hungary for years, seeing it as a pillar of the country's economic and technological policy. Chinese and South Korean investors have been brought in for this purpose.
Despite numerous local protests, court cases, and warnings from experts, the government stubbornly continued with the plans.
Scandal over private video recording
There is also the story of an alleged explicit video of opposition leader Peter Magyar, which has kept the Hungarian public in suspense for days.
A few days ago, a black-and-white photo of an untidy bed in a bedroom appeared on a mysterious website – named after, but not linked to, Tisa's deputy leader Marko Radnai. The photo was taken from an angle reminiscent of a surveillance camera.
After several days of speculation, the Hungarian posted a video on Facebook on February 12 in which he said that on August 3, 2024, he had "consensual intercourse" with his ex-partner in that room. He added that there were intoxicants on the table in the apartment, but that he did not consume them.
He initially accused the woman in question of recording him on behalf of the Orbán government and Fidesz and called the whole affair a "Russian-style campaign" aimed at diverting attention from the "death factory" in Godo.
Soon after, his ex-partner told the Hungarian media that she did not know what it was about and suggested to the Hungarian that, if such a recording were to be published, they should file a lawsuit together.
Fidesz is no longer dominant.
So far, neither Orban nor any other member of the government or Fidesz has made specific statements about whether the release of Peter Magyar's sex tape was planned.
However, by speaking openly about the subject, the Hungarian put the government on the defensive and indirectly suggested that the government is ready to resort to primitive methods, such as the publication of a sex tape, out of fear of losing power. And all this in order to divert attention from other scandals.
Speaking to DW, political analyst Danijel Mikec said that these scandals are increasingly putting pressure on Orban's government. "Before one scandal subsides, another one is coming," he said, adding:
"Fidesz used to say that it had to dominate and win every day. Now we see that it has to react to something every day. There is no longer any talk of dominance."
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