Christianity, especially the Calvinist variety, is booming in Hungary — in stark contrast to western European and North American societies that are destroying their own churches. That’s President Katalin Novák’s most recent speech in a nutshell. Regrettably, but not surprisingly, what she had to say isn’t true. The Fidesz politician, currently fulfilling a ceremonial role that on paper ought to […]
Election night in Hungary was as good as it could be for Fidesz and proved as awful as possible for Péter Márki-Zay’s United for Hungary. Not only did Fidesz sail to victory, but rather helpfully, a small anti-vaxxer hard-right party called Mi Hazánk — formed by former Jobbik members that disagreed with a turn to more moderate politics — managed […]
Standing on a little wooden chair and encircled by fans, this image of Prime Minister Viktor Orbán summed up effectively the bogus, foundationless nature of the Orbán regime that has ruled the country for 12 years. Fidesz is, after all, the party that embraces the conceit of being the sole legitimate representation of all that is Christian and patriotic. Yet […]
Piles of mail-in ballots, some cast for the United for Hungary rainbow coalition, as well as for the far-right Mi Hazánk party, have been discovered in a garbage dump near the town of Marosvásárhely, Romania — also known in Romanian as Târgu Mureș. Many of the discarded ballots were burned. The dump is essentially an illegal nuisance ground, located on a […]
Hungarians go to the polls Sunday, April 3rd (with advance voting on April 2nd for the diaspora in North America) to decide the fate the Orbán regime, in power since 2010. A poll released this week shows a tight race between the two leading party slates: Fidesz-KDNP and the United for Hungary (Egységben Magyarországért) rainbow coalition of opposition parties. Závecz […]
Hungarian voters, spanning from Hungary to across the ocean in Canada, will head to the voting booths on April 3rd, 2022. And after 12 years in power, democratically-minded Hungarians will seek to end Prime Minister Viktor Orbán’s authoritarian, corrupt and singularly cynical rule. What makes this national election different than the last three in which Mr. Orbán’s Fidesz party claimed […]
Hungary is at the centre of an unfolding refugee crisis, following Russian dictator Vladimir Putin’s invasion of Ukraine. Western Ukraine is also home to a community of more than 150,000 ethnic Hungarians, many of whom have close ties through family and friends to Hungary. While compassion always calls us to see beyond linguistic and national boundaries when it comes to […]
Hungary’s Prime Minister Viktor Orbán, traditionally an ally of Russian President Vladimir Putin, has finally condemned Moscow’s ruthless invasion of Ukraine. The Hungarian leader also announced that the country is ready to accept refugees from Ukraine immediately. The first Ukrainian citizens to seek refuge in Hungary crossed the border at Beregsurány and Záhony on 24 February. The average wait times […]
The leader of Hungary’s united democratic opposition, Péter Márki-Zay, pointed out Prime Minister Viktor Orbán’s deafening silence on the invasion of its peaceful eastern neighbour by Vladimir Putin’s Russia. He added pointedly that Mr. Orbán would avoid condemning his ruthless Russian ally even if the Hungarian minority in western Ukraine were directly threatened by the current war. “In 1956, we […]
Éva S. Balogh, the singularly dedicated editor and main contributor of Hungarian Spectrum died on November 30th of cardiac arrest. For over a decade, she dedicated her life to reporting on and analysing politics, culture and society in Hungary for English-speaking readers, diplomats and civil servants throughout Europe and North America, and for many democratically-minded Hungarians too, especially in the […]
