Despite high support for EU membership in Hungary, over a decade of Eurosceptic rhetoric by Prime Minister Viktor Orbán’s Fidesz party has had a lasting impact on voters’ attitudes. In the coming years, negative campaigns against the EU may become even more prevalent in Hungarian politics. Various aspects of the relationship between the Hungarian government […]
Fidesz
In the Hungarian elections on 3 April, the Fidesz-KDNP alliance reached a two-thirds majority in parliament for the fourth time. The result clearly indicates that the System of National Cooperation (an autocratic structure abbreviated as NER in Hungarian) now already constitutes a specific period in Hungary’s history, like the Horthy system between the two world […]
The re-election of Viktor Orbán and Fidesz in the 2022 Hungarian elections was not a surprise, but the extent of their victory was. Appealing to society’s craving for security and stability in times of the war in Ukraine proved decisive, as did the united opposition’s failure to convince voters that they would be better off […]
The Covid pandemic has exacerbated political parties’ separation from society and their ensuing loss of representativeness. Depending on whether they are in government or opposition, they have been transformed into representatives of the government in society or behind-the-scenes fomenters of societal discontent. Differences across parties thus depend more on their position with respect to government […]
Viktor Orbán’s populist illiberal government creates and benefits massively from polarisation of the Hungarian society.
Viktor Orbán, Hungary’s prime minister won a third consecutive term on 8 April and his Fidesz party regained its super-majority in parliament.