The following is the English translation of a press release kindly provided to us by the Center for Fundamental Rights.
February marked the start of the campaign season, but it was not only domestic players competing for votes—and ultimately for a parliamentary majority—in Hungary’s party contest. According to the latest monthly agenda analysis by the Center for Fundamental Rights, foreign actors have also entered the fray in an attempt to assert their own interests.
Ukraine’s wartime leadership is attempting to exert pressure on Hungarian voters by disrupting Hungary’s energy supply. Meanwhile, Brussels has not sided with Hungary, the EU Member State concerned, but instead decided to serve as a lobbyist for Volodymyr Zelenskyy.
Voters, however, appear to have a firm grasp of reality.
The experiences of the signature collection campaign and the National Petition, as well as the right-wing victory in the city of Balmazújváros, indicate that the right’s lead remains stable. This is also supported by the Center for Fundamental Rights’ February poll, which shows Fidesz holding a seven-point advantage over Tisza.
Péter Magyar’s camp has not been helped by the fact that it made easily debunked false claims regarding the number of signatures collected—claims that were exposed by the Center. It also emerged that Medián, which had been promoting false hopes on behalf of Tisza, publicly presented figures that differed significantly from the data it had actually measured.
In February, the parliamentary election campaign officially began, with activists from competing parties already taking to the streets—the campaign is now in full swing. Each month, the Center for Fundamental Rights examines which political actors have benefited most from developments in the preceding period.
Since the beginning of last summer, we have observed that the issues dominating public discourse reinforce the perception that, in the current uncertain and dangerous international environment, the right-wing is capable of defending Hungary’s interests. By contrast, the Tisza Party appears to be in a position of strong dependence on external actors—Brussels and Kyiv—seeking to impose their will without regard for the interests of the Hungarian people. The events of February have only further solidified this perception.
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