Hungary’s Orban, a long-time Trump ally, rocked by major scandals ahead of European elections

Hungarian
Prime
Minister
Viktor
Orban
has
run
into
political
trouble
ahead
of
European
parliamentary
elections
in
June,
with
his
ruling
party
shaken
by
two
political
scandals
within
six
weeks.

Orban
is
a

long-time
ally
of
former
U.S.
President
Donald
Trump
and
widely
seen
as
Russian
President
Vladimir
Putin’s

closest
supporter
in
the
European
Union.
The
right-wing
leader
has
led
the
central
European
country
since
2010,
making
him
the
EU’s
longest-serving
head
of
state.

Yet
two
major
scandals
have
recently
rocked
his
dominance
of
Budapest’s
political
landscape
at
a
sensitive
time
when
Hungary
is
poised
to
hold
both
local
and
European
elections
in
early
June.

The
latest
controversy
is “likely
to
prove
more
problematic”
for
Orban,
according
to
analysts
at
political
risk
consultancy
Eurasia
Group,
who
note
that
the
Hungarian
prime
minister
was
previously
able
to
move
on
from
a
pardon
scandal
without
a
significant
loss
of
public
support.

Peter
Magyar,
a
little-known
lawyer
formerly
close
to
Orban’s
government,

published
an
audio
recording
last
week
that
he
says
proves
top
officials
conspired
to
cover
up
corruption.
He
has
since
announced
plans
to
form
a
new
political
party
to
challenge
Orban’s
Fidesz
party.

“From
being
a
practically
unknown
figure
just
a
few
months
back,
[Magyar]
is
now
successfully
organizing
big-scale
demonstrations
in
Budapest
and
is
dominating
the
political
agenda
and
the
public
discourse,”
said
Zsuzsanna
Vegh,
a
visiting
fellow
at
the
German
Marshall
Fund
of
the
United
States,
a
transatlantic
think
tank.

Vegh
told
CNBC
that
Magyar’s
abrupt
political
breakthrough
indicates
a
large
demand
for
new
political
leadership
in
the
country.

“He
announced
the
launch
of
a
political
movement,
and
he
may
try
to
tap
into
a
mix
of
disillusioned
Fidesz
as
well
as
opposition,
and
importantly,
undecided,
maybe
even
apolitical
voters,”
Vegh
said.

Magyar
published
a
recording
on
Facebook
and
YouTube
of
a
conversation
with
Judit
Varga
—
his
then
wife
and
Hungary’s
justice
minister
at
the
time
—
in
which
she
implies
that
she
knew
government
officials
had
doctored
evidence
in
a
corruption
case
during
her
tenure.

The
revelations

prompted
several
thousand
citizens
to
protest
near
parliament
in
Budapest
on
March
26,
according
to
Reuters.
The
demonstration
followed
the
country’s
largest
protest
in
years
that
took
place
in
early
February,
when
it
emerged
that
former
Hungarian
President
Katalin
Novak
had
issued
a
pardon
to
a
man
imprisoned
for
covering
up
a
series
of
child
sexual
abuses.

Orban
allies,
including
Novak
and
Varga,
were
forced
to
resign
in
the
wake
of
the
pardon
scandal.

A
government
spokesperson
told
CNBC
that
the
situation
could
be
compared
to
the
famous
William
Shakespeare
play, “Much
Ado
About
Nothing.”
They
added
that
Magyar’s
political
intervention
had “fallen
flat.”

In
a
Facebook

post
on
March
26,
Varga
accused
Magyar
of
domestic
violence
during
their
relationship
and
claimed
she
had
made
the
comments
under
duress.
Magyar
denied
these
claims
in
a
separate
Facebook

post.

Vegh
said
that
Magyar’s
political
success
would
largely
depend
on
whether
he’s
able
to
sustain
the
momentum
behind
him
through
to
Hungary’s
parliamentary
elections
in
2026
—
a
challenge
that
analysts
at
Eurasia
Group
note
is
encumbered
by
the
ruling
party’s “pervasive”
grip
over
the
public
media
landscape.

“Given
these
realities,
it
is
unclear
if
Magyar
can
maintain
his
momentum
until
the
European
Parliament
elections
in
June
unless
he
continues
to
make
substantive
revelations
about
alleged
government
wrongdoings,”
analysts
at
Eurasia
Group
said
in
a
research
note
published
on
March
28.

“Moreover,
adding
another
party
to
the
mix
of
opposition
formations
might
play
into
Orban’s
hands
in
June’s
elections,
where
parties
face
a
5%
minimum
threshold
to
enter
the
parliament.
Any
votes
for
parties
that
remain
below
this
threshold
will
ultimately
help
Fidesz,
potentially
allowing
the
party
to
increase
its
share
of
seats,”
they
added.