Fateful Parliamentary Elections Have Begun In Hungary
14- 12.04.2026, 8:15
- 4,944
Independent opinion polls predict a sure victory for the opposition.
Voting in Hungary's parliamentary elections began early Sunday morning. A total of five parties are running, but the real contenders are two: Viktor Orban's Fidesz, which has ruled the country for 16 years, and Peter Magyar's Tisza. Independent opinion polls predict a solid victory for the opposition, VS reported.
At 6 a.m. Budapest time, polling stations opened across Hungary. Voters cast their ballots until 7 p.m. - for a candidate in a single-mandate district (a total of 106 seats out of 199 will be distributed this way) and for a party. In order to pass to the parliament, political parties must overcome the five-percent barrier.
Together five parties are taking part in the elections. Their main rivals are Viktor Orban's Fidesz, who has been prime minister since 2010, and Peter Magyar's Tisa, established in 2020 (Magyar himself left the ruling party for the opposition in 2024).
Besides them, voters will be able to vote for the left-wing Democratic Coalition, the parodic Two-Tailed Dog Party, and the far-right Our Fatherland (Mi Hazánk). Only the latter, according to polls, has a chance of breaking the five percent threshold.
Independent opinion polls predict a solid victory for Tisa, but centers close to the government suggest Orbán's party will retain its parliamentary majority.
The votes must be counted, according to Hungarian law, no later than Saturday, April 18.
Viktor Orbán and Fidesz have largely built their election campaign around the war in Ukraine. The posters feature images of Ukrainian President Vladimir Zelensky and European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen with alarming and threatening captions.
Orban himself and the country's foreign minister, Péter Szijjártó, have regularly spoken out about how Kiev and Brussels are dragging Budapest into war, and warned of alleged impending Ukrainian sabotage of Hungarian energy facilities.
In addition, Hungary at the EU level has consistently blocked financial aid to Ukraine and the imposition of new sanctions on Russia.
Even U.S. Vice President J.D. Vance came to support Orban before the election. He praised the prime minister for defending the Hungarian people and for everything he has done to "successfully resolve the war between Russia and Ukraine," and accused Brussels of interfering in the parliamentary elections.
Peter Magyar, however, tries not to bring up the war in Ukraine. The Tisza leader has heeded the lessons of other opposition parties that have lost to Fidesz in the past, Peter Marky-Zai, Orban's main rival in parliamentary elections in 2022, told Politico.
In the final weeks before the election, media outlets ranging from Russia's The Insider to America's Bloomberg ran stories on Orban and Szijjártó's ties with Russia.
For example, according to journalists, the Hungarian foreign minister spoke with his Russian counterpart Sergey Lavrov in the summer of 2025 about the possible lifting of some European sanctions. And Orban himself in October of the same year, in a conversation with Vladimir Putin, reported a readiness to help "in any way possible."
Bank's name: Bank Millennium S.A.
Address: ul. Stanislawa Zaryna, 2A, 02-593, Warszawa
IBAN: PL97116022020000000216711123
SWIFT: BIGBPLPW
Name of the account holder: Fundacja “KARTA ‘97”
Purpose/title of payment: Donation for statuary aims
You can contact us by the e-mail [email protected]
