No serving leader in the European Union has led their country for as long as Viktor Orbán. But after 16 years he faces his strongest challenge yet in 12 April elections, where most opinion polls suggest he is heading for defeat at the hands of former party insider, Péter Magyar.
Since 2010, Orbán has transformed Hungary into what the European Parliament has denounced as a hybrid regime of electoral autocracy. He appears uncertain how to describe his own invention. He has tried both illiberal democracy, and Christian liberty. His allies in the US Maga movement call it national conservatism.
Orbán has repeatedly clashed with European Union colleagues on the war in Ukraine, blocking vital funding for Kyiv, which he accuses of trying to force Hungary into war with Russia. And yet he has powerful international allies.
He is considered Vladimir Putin's strongest partner in the EU, and he has been endorsed by US President Donald Trump in his bid for a fifth consecutive term in office. While Trump has promised to led US economic might to Hungary if he wins again, Vice-President JD Vance visited Budapest five days before the election, intervening in the campaign to appeal to voters to stand with Viktor Orbán, because he stands for you.
Within the EU, the Fidesz leader's closest allies come from the radical and hard right. His antagonism towards Brussels still pays off with many Hungarians, but Orbán has cut an increasingly lonely figure among EU leaders looking for European unity in response to the war in Ukraine. His Foreign Minister, Péter Szijjártó, recently admitted personally sharing details of EU meetings with his Russian counterpart Sergei Lavrov, but called those conversations everyday diplomacy.
This was a very different Orbán from the man whose ex-football trainer once highlighted his ability to think on the ball. This was a leader who rolled up his sleeves and stacked sandbags alongside firemen and volunteers when toxic red sludge from a bauxite mine engulfed a Hungarian valley and threatened the Danube shore in 2010.
Now 62, Orbán first made his mark while still a law student in Budapest in the late 1980s as the Soviet Union began to fall apart, setting up a political movement called Fidesz, or Alliance of Young Democrats. Reflecting on his words ten years later, he said he had exposed everyone's silent desire for free elections, and an independent and democratic Hungary.
The democracy that replaced authoritarian Soviet rule has changed dramatically under Orbán, who according to Hungarian-born journalist Paul Lendvai has moved from one of the most promising defenders of Hungarian democracy into the chief author of its demise.
The EU is one of several targets that Orbán has set his sights on in recent years. His latest stand-off with EU leaders means €90bn in funds for Ukraine has been put on hold because of a Hungarian veto. Although he has been able to rely on Trump and Putin for political support, his claim to be protecting Hungary from leaders who wage war has become increasingly shaky. He has not experienced electoral defeat since 2006. Despite the support of both Vladimir Putin and Donald Trump, he is now facing the biggest test of his political career.
Since 2010, Orbán has transformed Hungary into what the European Parliament has denounced as a hybrid regime of electoral autocracy. He appears uncertain how to describe his own invention. He has tried both illiberal democracy, and Christian liberty. His allies in the US Maga movement call it national conservatism.
Orbán has repeatedly clashed with European Union colleagues on the war in Ukraine, blocking vital funding for Kyiv, which he accuses of trying to force Hungary into war with Russia. And yet he has powerful international allies.
He is considered Vladimir Putin's strongest partner in the EU, and he has been endorsed by US President Donald Trump in his bid for a fifth consecutive term in office. While Trump has promised to led US economic might to Hungary if he wins again, Vice-President JD Vance visited Budapest five days before the election, intervening in the campaign to appeal to voters to stand with Viktor Orbán, because he stands for you.
Within the EU, the Fidesz leader's closest allies come from the radical and hard right. His antagonism towards Brussels still pays off with many Hungarians, but Orbán has cut an increasingly lonely figure among EU leaders looking for European unity in response to the war in Ukraine. His Foreign Minister, Péter Szijjártó, recently admitted personally sharing details of EU meetings with his Russian counterpart Sergei Lavrov, but called those conversations everyday diplomacy.
This was a very different Orbán from the man whose ex-football trainer once highlighted his ability to think on the ball. This was a leader who rolled up his sleeves and stacked sandbags alongside firemen and volunteers when toxic red sludge from a bauxite mine engulfed a Hungarian valley and threatened the Danube shore in 2010.
Now 62, Orbán first made his mark while still a law student in Budapest in the late 1980s as the Soviet Union began to fall apart, setting up a political movement called Fidesz, or Alliance of Young Democrats. Reflecting on his words ten years later, he said he had exposed everyone's silent desire for free elections, and an independent and democratic Hungary.
The democracy that replaced authoritarian Soviet rule has changed dramatically under Orbán, who according to Hungarian-born journalist Paul Lendvai has moved from one of the most promising defenders of Hungarian democracy into the chief author of its demise.
The EU is one of several targets that Orbán has set his sights on in recent years. His latest stand-off with EU leaders means €90bn in funds for Ukraine has been put on hold because of a Hungarian veto. Although he has been able to rely on Trump and Putin for political support, his claim to be protecting Hungary from leaders who wage war has become increasingly shaky. He has not experienced electoral defeat since 2006. Despite the support of both Vladimir Putin and Donald Trump, he is now facing the biggest test of his political career.
