For the first time in 16 years, Viktor Orban\u2019s rule over Hungary is looking shaky.<\/p>\n
In Sunday\u2019s closely contested parliamentary election, around eight million voters in the population of almost 10 million are ready to choose between stability or change.<\/p>\n list of 3 items<\/span>end of list<\/span><\/section>\n It\u2019s clear there is a large appetite for someone new looking at the crowds of supporters that Peter Magyar, Orban\u2019s centre-right, pro-European Union contender has been attracting. The latest polls show his Tisza party comfortably ahead of Orban\u2019s Fidesz, with a big chance of winning a majority in parliament.<\/p>\n A visit by US vice president JD Vance to Budapest this week, along with an endorsement by President Donald Trump, did not turn the tide in Orban\u2019s favour. Instead, due to public frustration over the Iran war and the resulting price rises, the White House show of support may even have cost him votes.<\/p>\n Vance\u2019s visit shows that this election is being closely watched in Washington, where Orban\u2019s conservative, illiberal rule is seen as a model. But it\u2019s also attracted attention in Moscow, where Orban is considered an ally who, much to the annoyance of the EU, has regularly used his veto to block funds for the war in Ukraine.<\/p>\n Addressing a crowd in Szekesfehervar, one of his loyal bases, Orban called on his supporters to continue campaigning until the last moment. \u201cIt\u2019s a choice between me or Zelenskyy,\u201d he said on Friday evening.<\/p>\n But Orban\u2019s campaign rhetoric that Hungary will be dragged into the Ukraine war \u2013 and that Ukraine\u2019s President Volodymyr Zelenskyy will be the one in charge \u2013 has started to sound hollow to long-time Fidesz supporters, such as Marta Bognar.<\/p>\n After voting for Orban for years, she is now campaigning for his opponent in her hometown Sumeg, one of the many traditional strongholds of Fidesz. She tells Al Jazeera she is struggling to get by \u2013 or buy her medication due to the ailing healthcare system.<\/p>\n \u201cWe need change. If there is no change, I believe there could even be a civil war,\u201d Bognar says.<\/p>\n \u201cI am so angry with this government. We don\u2019t need to align ourselves with Russia or America, we belong in the European Union.\u201d<\/p>\n Her friend Eva Katona-Kovacs mentions widespread corruption as the main reason supporters are abandoning Orban.<\/p>\n \u201cHe has built a feudal system with mini-kings that has destroyed our country and the future of our youth,\u201d she says.<\/p>\n Sumeg is one of the many small towns Magyar has visited during his campaign. The 45-year-old trained lawyer, once a loyal supporter and admirer of Orban, rose to fame in 2024 during large protests over a scandal involving the country\u2019s justice system and a controversial presidential pardon in a child abuse case.<\/p>\n Magyar supports Orban\u2019s anti-immigration drive but promises to restore ties with the EU and return the frozen $18 billion Brussels feared could be misused because of a lack of rule of law and erosion of democratic institutions.<\/p>\n \u201cHungarians are freezing in their beds,\u201d Magyar shouts from a small stage in the town square. \u201cIn a few days it will all be over for this corrupt, mafia government.\u201d<\/p>\n But the outcome on Sunday is hard to predict due to Hungary\u2019s complicated electoral system and the changes Orban made to the boundaries of the 106 constituencies.<\/p>\n In 2024, districts in the opposition stronghold of Budapest were reduced from 18 to 16 districts. Of the 199 seats in parliament, 106 are determined by the constituencies and 93 come from party results, which could well favour the ruling party.<\/p>\n On voting day hundreds of volunteers will be stationed at polling stations around the country to report any election fraud.<\/p>\n Orban\u2019s supporters at a rally in Tapolca, two hours west of Budapest, are convinced he will win.<\/p>\n \u201cFor me and my partner, Orban is a safe choice,\u201d Florian Fustos says. \u201cHe supports young families to have children which is important in an ageing society. I don\u2019t believe he can lose, the race is not as tight as the opposition says.\u201d<\/p>\n By Sunday midnight, Hungarians should have a good idea whether the country will be changing its course or not.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n For the first time in 16 years, Viktor Orban\u2019s rule over Hungary is looking shaky. In Sunday\u2019s closely contested parliamentary election, around eight million voters in the population of almost 10 million are ready to choose between stability or change. Recommended Stories list of 3 itemsend of list It\u2019s clear there is a large appetite […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":18523,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[6],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-18522","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-europe-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/inernews.online\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/18522","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/inernews.online\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/inernews.online\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/inernews.online\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/inernews.online\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=18522"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/inernews.online\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/18522\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/inernews.online\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/18523"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/inernews.online\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=18522"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/inernews.online\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=18522"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/inernews.online\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=18522"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}Recommended Stories <\/h2>\n
\u2018We need change\u2019<\/h2>\n
![\"Hungary](\"https:\/\/www.aljazeera.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/04\/AP26100687756696-1775904601.jpg?w=770&resize=770%2C513&quality=80\")
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