Hungary: Orbán’s resounding, depressing re-election
“You could almost hear the collective thud of EU hearts sinking” as Viktor Orbán decisively won a fourth term as Hungary’s prime minister this week, said Katya Adler in BBC News (U.K.). The autocrat defied predictions of a tight race by leading his right-wing Fidesz party to a commanding win with 54 percent of the vote. The opposition pro-Europe coalition got a mere 34 percent. “We won a victory so big that you can see it from the moon,” a swaggering Orbán told a crowd of supporters, “and you can certainly see it from Brussels.” That was a dig at the EU, which has rebuked Orbán for his democratic backsliding, suppression of independent media, and support for Vladimir Putin: Orbán initially supported sanctions on Russia over its invasion of Ukraine but has since reverted to form and now opposes arming Ukraine or boycotting Russian gas. His victory speech even cited Ukraine’s Volodymyr Zelensky, who had denounced his coddling of Putin, as one of the “opponents” he defeated. Newly confident, the “self-styled illiberal democrat” says his win proves to Europe that his brand of right-wing Christian conservative nationalism is thriving. “We are telling Europe that this is not the past,” Orbán said. “This is the future.”
The result should come as no surprise, said Attila Juhász in Magyar Nemzet (Hungary). With war just over our border, Orbán promised Hungarians he would provide “peace and security” by staying out of it. While other European countries will hurt economically from their sanctions on Russia, here, he assured us, there will be no “tightening of the belt.” Still, many jaded Hungarians didn’t bother voting, said Péter Németh in Népszava (Hungary), knowing Orbán’s political machine was designed to deliver victory, not fairness. While Fidesz got just over half the vote, it retained the two-thirds supermajority that has allowed it free rein since 2010. The party has strangled Hungary’s democracy by intimidating opposition politicians, buying up or closing independent media, and using state TV for party propaganda. Orbán’s autocracy is unstoppable, and those of us in the opposition are embarrassed to be the EU’s “only pro-Putin and pro-war country.”
Orbán is now free to take the gloves off and pummel “anyone who stands in his way,” said Cathrin Kahlweit in the Süddeutsche Zeitung (Germany). The fractious opposition coalition will soon “disintegrate again.” The success of Orbán’s anti-democratic political model has made it a model for far-right leaders in Europe and the U.S. If the EU doesn’t “use all available means against his dismantling of the rule of law,” such a system could “take root—and spread—in the heart of the West.” EU action is “long overdue,” said Gideon Rachman in the Financial Times (U.K.). Orbán has maintained a careful “balancing act,” enjoying the benefits of EU membership while cozying up to Russia, but could manage that only because of Polish support. Now that Poland is “leading the cry for tougher action against Putin,” Europe must no longer tolerate Orbán’s “double-dealing.”