Although the Coronavirus pandemic in Hungary has not yet peaked and with 2,284 confirmed cases of COVID-19 and 239 deaths, the Orbán government announced that it will be prepared to begin re-opening the economy soon after May 4th. On April 29th, the government intends to announce its plan on re-opening the economy. The current model predicts that the coronavirus will […]
After nine years in the wilderness, Hungary’s opposition parties scored major electoral victories across the country and especially in Budapest in local elections, where a centre-left alliance of parties won the mayoral race, achieved a solid majority on the municipal council and won back nine districts from Fidesz. Moreover, support for Fidesz in the traditionally conservative and affluent Buda districts […]
There is disagreement between the Korean and Hungarian authorities on how to conduct the rescue operation of a sunken sightseeing boat. According to the Korea Times, Song Shun-keun, the leader of the Korean response team in Budapest said that “while he respected the Hungarian government’s decision to raise the ship rather than conducting diving operations, he had requested that it […]
Five days before the 8th April vote, opposition parties are struggling to unite in swing ridings, and key politicians are contradicting each other. According to reports published in Index on Tuesday afternoon, the Hungarian Socialist Party – Párbeszéd alliance (MSZP-P) decided to withdraw its candidate in Central Budapest in favour of Antal Csárdi of the Politics Can Be Different party […]
Prime Minister Viktor Orbán’s decision to use his speech on a Hungarian national holiday to explicitly threaten legal and political revenge against his opponents has opposition politicians, journalists, academics and civil liberties activists wondering if the election on 8 April is, indeed, a “do or die” situation. The most recent Medián poll, released this week, shows that Fidesz is set […]
Close observers of Hungarian politics are not surprised to learn that Prime Minister Viktor Orbán, a vociferous critic of Brussels at home, uses the European Union as a “cash register.” Any Hungarian entrepreneur would also know that winning major EU-funded contracts is a privilege reserved for a small circle of oligarchs close to the ruling Fidesz party’s inner circle and, it […]
According to a Medián poll released Wednesday, Fidesz has seen its support drop by 7 percent among decided voters. As the campaign ahead of national elections on 8th April heats up, the poll shows that more Hungarians are planning on exercising their vote–going from 52% in early 2017 to 56% at the end of January 2018. Historically, higher turn-out tends […]
Gergely Karácsony, the Hungarian Socialist Party’s candidate for prime minister answered questions at Budapest’s venerable Spinóza Ház, a generally liberal-minded club, theatre and coffee house which has welcomed politicians from across the spectrum to sit down with journalist Katalin Rangos. Mr. Karácsony answered questions on a broad range of topics ahead of the April 2018 national elections, but none elicited […]
Reporters from the Azonnali website recently asked Fidesz supporters gathered outside the House of Terror in Budapest how long they wanted Prime Minister Viktor Orbán to stay in power. Going on 12 years in office, he is the third longest serving prime minister in Hungarian history, and will become the second longest in summer 2018, following his all but certain […]
Two municipal by-elections are scheduled for Sunday in Budapest and both could serve as an indication of what impact half a dozen mass protests (each drawing tens of thousands) and the scandal surrounding Central European University have had on voting intentions, less than a year before national elections. Both by-elections are in areas that, in any other country, would likely […]
