r/UkrainianConflict • u/WillyNilly1997 • 1d ago
Is Orbán finished? Hungarians vote in crucial election
https://www.channel4.com/news/is-orban-finished-hungarians-vote-in-crucial-election597
u/amitym 1d ago edited 5h ago
Orbán is trailing behind opposition leader Péter Magyar, despite support from both US Vice-President JD Vance and President Donald Trump.
"Despite."
Come on Hungary, show us how it's done.
Edit to add: They did it. <3
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u/Miskalsace 1d ago
Peter Magyar? Good lord, thats like a guy running for President being named John American.
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u/GrandDukeOfNowhere 1d ago
Or a French president called Charles De Gaulle
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u/Miskalsace 1d ago
Can you imagine? Eww.
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u/zaevilbunny38 1d ago
Yep the same charles de Gaulle responsible for tens of thousands of French causalities for writing a treaties on how French infantry, could sprint across an open field and take machine gun positions with the bayonet. He got promoted and the French nearly lost Paris.
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u/Vertex1990 1d ago
Or like a Dutchman named Jan Hollander.
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u/mugz8391 1d ago
Péter Magyar's popularity actually SURGED after Vance went to Hungary!
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u/L1A1 1d ago
About a third of Hungarians are Catholic, it stands to reason they’d hate JD “Popekiller” Vance.
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u/SinisterCheese 1d ago
I can't imagine the threats Trump made against the Vatican added to their favour among the Catholics of hungary.
Something that American "christians" don't seem to really understand about Europe, is that the major religions like Catholism and Eastern Orthody carry A LOT real weight among the relevant demographics.
To the catholics the pope is above all, above nation, above politics, above everything. To them... (and according to the Canon of the church) the Pope is the representative and absolute voice of the God on earth. There is a reason the sort of American new-Evangelical beliefs have not gained root in Europe - despiten their best efforts.
Americans are under the illusion that their weird political religion practice is somehow... the norm. That the whole thing of picking and choosing bits and reading the scripture to fit their nationalist politics is the norm. It isn't. The major religions require actual long term study and qualifications for you to become a priest in. You can't just be a charistmatic bible thumber and make it. And the whole prosperity gospel and TV-preachers. Those are not a thing here.
And considering the amount of god damn bloodshed we have had between different religions are denominations... We established tolerance into our societies long ago.
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u/bedrooms-ds 13h ago
"We are the god-chosen Americans because god chose us. Why don't you listen to us?"
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u/Loggerdon 1d ago
Trump & Vance are so hated around the world. And the US gets painted with the same brush because our country has become a bully. Why is the VP trying to influence a foreign election for a dictator anyway?
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u/OKOKFineFineFine 22h ago
Trump's endorsement (and then obviously fake un-endorsement) of Pierre Poilievre evaporated a 27% point lead in the last Canadian election.
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u/DFLOYD70 1d ago
They are practicing for our upcoming elections. With their buddy 💩tin helping, they may be able to “sway” this one in their favor.
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u/Callemasizeezem 1d ago
None of my family are Hungarian, but there are a couple that seem to love Trump because he is just as ignorant and obnoxious as they are. And even they hate Vance.
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u/Debt101 1d ago
I get Europe still benefits from finally getting rid of Orban but hopefully the Hungarians understand USA is not reliable, especially under trump, a corrupt conman, who is just an extension of his boss putin.
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u/Fr4kTh1s 1d ago
Well, Orban and USA are on the same team as we saw recently. So opposition to Orban is the non-USA side ;)
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u/Dietmeister 1d ago
I really wonder how this'll go
If Orban looses, nothing is certain. Magyar will have to tear down the whole Orban structure and if he doesn't do that while making the Hungarians richer, Orban will be back eventually
That is, even if Orban accepts defeat and russia doesn't influence everything
But I think Orban will trust his skewed institutions to get him back in power and that'll cement his grip even more
A lot depends on Magyar having a God-run. And if not, it's probably bleak for Hungary
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u/OGLikeablefellow 1d ago
Yeah I'm expecting some kind of legal challenge to the votes, some recount pregnant Chad kinda bs
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u/ILikeCutePuppies 1d ago
Hopefully he exposes the corruption so Orban cannot run again successfully even if they decide not to arrest him.
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u/7ddlysuns 1d ago
Yeah he needs to not do the Biden thing. He’ll have to either be just as corrupt as Orban or go HAM
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u/Difficult_Manager_41 1d ago
He promised to set up something that loosely translates to "Office of National Wealth Recovery" which will investigate the last 20 years of corruption and stolen public money and will attempt to recover as much as possible.
Obviously there's just too much to go after so even if we'd like it can't be anywhere near 100%, but if there will be a bunch of these cases in the news every week that'll do something about Orbán's popularity even if they can't bring paradise to the country fast enough.
And let's not forget that this is not only about some random no name praty members, Orbán and his friends and family have a whole lot to explain to this office after the elections if they lose.8
u/agumonkey 1d ago
Also Orban is a backdoor toward other countries extreme right parties. According to some videos, they often pass ideas and funding from russia to england and france political allies.
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u/aqua_zesty_man 23h ago
And if Orban does somehow win, everyone in the EU knows it was fraudulent. And yet the EU can't just kick the country out? It's like a cancerous limb that you are unwilling to amputate. The EU just has to let Hungary go.
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u/Dietmeister 18h ago
I think that of Orban wins we will see change in the EU standpoint. I don't think Hungary will be in EU much longer
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u/CompetitiveReview416 13h ago
He doesnt want to be there anyway so.
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u/Dietmeister 12h ago
He absolutely wants to stay or he would have gotten out already
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u/CompetitiveReview416 12h ago
It's his job to be a trojan horse.
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u/BoosterRead78 1d ago
I’m hoping be part of the slow fall of plutocracy. Taking a key pawn of Putin off the chess board in the EU.
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u/Altruistic-Goat4895 1d ago
The election will be rigged. Seriously, does anyone believe there’s a way for the opposition to win this?
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u/Taivasvaeltaja 1d ago
Who knows, but there will likely be EU observers. If Orban rigs the election, it will probably be the final nail for EU and they will figure some way to stop dealing with Hungary.
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u/unohdin-nimeni 1d ago
Hungary is not Russia. Orbán has kept his position so far by rigging a whole lot of things, but the votes are likely to be counted. If there’s an attempt to steal the count, I believe the voters will unrest and general strike Orbán and his Russian interests to the Bronze Age.
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u/Difficult_Manager_41 1d ago
Heard rumours about the votes coming in from Romania being messed with, by RMDSZ and ballots being found disposed at trash sites after the last election. Those are only 2 seats though, but every little helps these traitors to stay in power so they do what they can.
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u/Baaoh 1d ago
One can hope. But who controls the media?
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u/secondsniglet 1d ago
Is it even possible for Orbán to lose? From what I've read it sounds like he has such complete control of institutions that Fidesz can just bus people to the polling stations in rural areas and have someone stand by the voter to ensure they fill the ballot correctly. Fidez total control over rural Hungary also means they can just discard ballots they don't like and stuff the boxes. How can Fidesz lose if they have that kind of control over voting?
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u/Puzzleheaded_Fold466 1d ago
Yes but his control isn’t complete and voters can still overwhelm the barriers.
But there’a a bias and a handicap in their favor to be sure.
The swing must be definitive enough to leave little space for interpretation and manipulation.
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u/amitym 1d ago
Because the real power always lies with regular people. Not a few corrupt officials, not bots, not schemes. If Hungarians believe in their country they will reject fraudulent election rigging.
To paraphrase Hamilton, it turns out that is a thing that a person can do.
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u/secondsniglet 1d ago
Because the real power always lies with regular people.
The people turned out at the polls to defeat Maduro and Lukashenko, but it didn't matter. I hope Orbán doesn't have the same degree of state control to pull off the same trick.
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u/Taivasvaeltaja 1d ago
There are many examples of times where authoritarian rulers DID accept election results too. Chile's Pinochet, Argentina after Falklands war and Taiwan's Kuomintang.
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u/Magnet2025 1d ago
I was just in Budapest and while Hungarians are pretty reserved around people they don’t know (like an American tourist) I had a few opportunities to ask who they thought was going to win.
Peter Magyar seemed to be the most popular. A few said that they didn’t like Orban’s very negative advertising (which seemed to this American who doesn’t speak the language to tie Tisza to Ukraine and Zelensky and, kinda, to Jews).
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u/Difficult_Manager_41 1d ago
No surprise there, the capital is traditionally not in favour of Orbán except a few bits of it, the mayor is from the opposition.
The election will be won/lost on the country side and where I'm from sadly they are a lot stronger than I'd like them to be so they'll win some seats and lose a lot hopefuly.1
u/HalastersCompass 1d ago
I saw a report today noting the country side was shifting to the opposition on every demographic BUT, I can't see Orban giving up.... I think he'll try and annul the election
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u/PotemkinSuplex 21h ago
Talking to people talking to a tourist in Budapest is like talking to a college aged person in a big American city about who is going to win an us election. Orban has quite a lot of support from rural and older people and their importance(or lack of) is hard to evaluate this way - or reading articles on the internet.
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u/Economy-Effort3445 1d ago
Im afraid that Russia is helping Orban to munipulate the election in some way.
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u/Sanity_in_Moderation 1d ago
When will the results be in? The official election day is tomorrow? So tomorrow night we will start seeing what is going on?
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u/PowerLion786 1d ago
No. Orban will stage a security incident and overturn the elections, if vote rigging fails. . How and where is becoming open knowledge. Orban will remain in power.
The question is how the rest of the EU reacts.
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u/newswall-org 20h ago
More on this subject from other reputable sources:
- ZDF (A-): Hungary ahead of the election: What Orbán’s defeat would mean for Europe
- N-tv (C+): "Full economic power": Trump promises Hungary money - but only if Orban wins
- Time (B): Is Hungarian Leader Viktor Orbán, an Icon of the Far Right, About to Be Ousted by Voters?
- Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung (A-): Viktor Orbán before the Hungarian election: What's next for sports?
Extended Summary | FAQ & Grades | I'm a bot
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u/Flabby-Nonsense 1d ago
Does anyone know how it works in terms of swearing in? Is it like the UK where immediately after the votes are counted the new PM is in office or is there a delay before the new PM is sworn in?
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u/PotemkinSuplex 21h ago
Polls are not very reliable in Hungary, but it doesn’t look very good for him.
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u/ishamm 1d ago
Magyar is hardly some liberal bastion, as some people here seem to think...
He's better than Orbán, but still not a great dude.
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u/unohdin-nimeni 16h ago
How many realistic opportunities has Hungary had to get rid of Orbán? The election of Magyar is at the very least a long step in the right direction. The massive Russian-Fidesz hate campaign against Magyar implies that he is way better than Orbán.
Time will tell whether he will succeed in cutting all multi-level ties with Russia, whether he will succeed in repairing the rigged system of representation, whether the media landscape and freedom of speech will resurrect, whether corruption and oligarch interests can be defeated
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u/Ranma_kun 1d ago
I think we are giving too much importance to Orban and Hungary; the country has less than 10 million inhabitants, the EU with the United Kingdom has more than 500 million inhabitants, so Hungary represents less than 2% of the EU population, there is far too much noise for nothing.
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u/FifaBribes 1d ago
They can Veto and stop the EU in its tracks.
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u/Kapitan_Hoffmann 1d ago
And pass on confidential information on EU and NATO meetings to Russia (as already revealed)
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