War next door boosts Viktor Orban’s campaign to keep power in Hungary
- Campaign for April 3 Hungarian election has been dominated by the Russian invasion of neighbouring Ukraine
- Viktor Orban, in power since a landslide win in 2010, has portrayed himself as a protector of Hungary’s peace and security
Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban rallied his supporters behind a message of peace and security as he tried to lock in gains in opinion polls less than three weeks before an election.
Tuesday’s national holiday in Hungary saw the biggest events of the campaign, with Orban addressing a crowd outside Parliament in Budapest and his opponents hosting a rival demonstration in another part of the city. What wasn’t expected just a few weeks ago, though, was that a war in Ukraine would turn out to be the key issue.
Until Russia’s invasion last month, Orban was the European Union leader with the closest relations with President Vladimir Putin and the election was shaping up to be the most closely contested since Orban’s return to power in 2010.
Orban has adopted authoritarian Russian power techniques for his country, such as the gagging of the independent media and promoting homophobic policies.
But polling suggests Hungarians are now more likely to stick with Orban while fighting rages in their eastern neighbour.
“This is no time for mistakes, for scrambling, no time for even a single bad decision,” Orban warned tens of thousand of his supporters gathered outside Parliament, adding that the war in Ukraine had raised the stakes in the ballot. “I can’t remember when the stars were so aligned in our favour 19 days before an election.”