European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen listens to Hungary’s Prime Minister Viktor Orbán speech during the presentation of the programme for Hungary’s six-month Council Presidency , as part of a plenary session at the European Parliament in Strasbourg on October 9, 2024.
FREDERICK FLORIN / AFP
The Hungarian prime minister’s political director is pleased to see reporters running “into reality.”
Mainstream reports over recent weeks have created the impression that next month’s Hungarian election is a dead cert—that opposition leader Péter Magyar’s ‘poll lead’ is only getting bigger, and Viktor Orbán is surely on his way out.
But every now and then, a word, paragraph, or sometimes even a whole article, reveals that doubts do remain, and that even mainstream figures know the result is far from decided.
Svyatoslav Khomenko, one of the BBC’s main Ukraine correspondents, visited Budapest on Saturday, travelling particularly to strongly contested districts, and seemed surprised by the strength of the prime minister’s position a fortnight ahead of polling.
After attending one Orbán rally, Khomenko urged readers not to “believe those who say that during his years in power he has lost touch with reality, transformed from a street tribune into a cabinet politician,” adding:
You don’t even need to know Hungarian to notice how he keeps the crowd’s attention, how he plays with the timbre of his voice.
His report also described the rally as “packed with people”—“for the most part, good, kind, and sensitive people”—“to the point where it was impossible to squeeze to the stage,” and stressed that “there was no need for transportation [of backers] here.”
Balázs Orbán, the PM’s political director, said Khomenko had run “into reality,” adding:
What the legacy media has been trying to sell for months with fake narratives and manufactured polls about Hungary’s election and Orbán simply didn’t hold up on the ground.
BBC 🇺🇦 UKRAINE’S CORRESPONDENT CAME TO 🇭🇺 HUNGARY — AND RAN INTO REALITY‼
What the legacy media has been trying to sell for months with fake narratives and manufactured polls about Hungary’s election and 🇭🇺@PM_ViktorOrban simply didn’t hold up on the ground.
Another telling piece was published by pro-Brussels paper Politico on Monday, March 30th, suggesting “five ways the EU could cope with Hungary if Orbán wins again.” The article quotes unnamed bloc officials who say Brussels is preparing for a reelection scenario, and highlights that the EU is increasingly preparing for a reckoning if Orbán continues to obstruct mainstream policies.
Balázs was, of course, pleased to see this piece too, saying it was “good to see that even in Brussels they know: Hungarians stand with patriotic forces and Viktor Orbán, despite the flood of fake polls.”
Michael Curzon is a news writer for europeanconservative.com based in England’s Midlands. He is also Editor of Bournbrook Magazine, which he founded in 2019, and previously wrote for London’s Express Online. His Twitter handle is @MichaelCurzon_.
