Viktor Orban’s secret election campaign in Hungary

In short, Orban is in danger of losing. For the opposition, however, it will be very difficult, given that Orban and his circle of political allies have many tools of deception and pressure in hand to use in the election campaign, some of which they have been using for weeks. last.

Such a manipulation mechanism occurred with almost the same terms before the 2018 parliamentary elections. Some activists and members of civil society have been approached by some foreign companies under the pretext of cooperation. The conversations of these activists have been recorded, masterfully edited and published in newspapers near Orban, as evidence that there is an international conspiracy, including members of Hungarian civil society, to overthrow Orban’s government.

Intellectual and academic Dalibor Rohc told The Bulwark magazine that a similar scenario happened to him in the summer of 2020. He points out that he was approached by a mysterious man who claimed to be a founding partner of Wilson Energy Consultants, with whom he had chatted about twice on Skype. A few months later Rohc found in the media a very short excerpt from the conversation he had had with him, according to which, he claimed that the European Union would breathe easy if Orban lost the 2022 elections.

Another tactic that Orban has used for many years in his election campaign has been the arrival of illegal immigrants in the country, a topic that he has often repeated in his rhetoric, which is known, among other things, for the statements of false and hostile to Islam and the Muslim people.

The Associated Press writes that “with the April 3 election approaching, Orban described fears of illegal immigration to a country higher than in 2015, where thousands of asylum seekers arrived in the European Union after fleeing war and poverty.”

At a press conference in December, Orban told reporters that in 2021, Hungarian authorities had arrested and imprisoned “more than 100,000 people”. In reality, the figures are very low; According to data from Frontex, the European Union border guard agency, in 2021 there were 60,540 irregular entrances to the so-called “Balkan route”, of which Hungary is only one of the countries involved.

Also, another tool of his propaganda, widely used by Orban are meetings with foreign leaders. This strategy, ie meetings with them close to the election date, is realized especially to legitimize his status as an international leader. A few weeks before the 2018 parliamentary elections. Orban met with Italian politician Giorgia Meloni. Now that his profile has been damaged, in early February, he met with Russian President Vladimir Putin, while according to government sources for The Guardian, Orban is trying to persuade former US President Donald Trump to visit him. in Hungary.

Efforts to influence elections will probably not be limited to the election campaign.

International media have reported that in the 2018 parliamentary elections, they reported on “falsified documents, intimidation of voters and businessmen, vote buying and illegal transportation of voters from foreign countries.” Since then, reports of irregularities have also increased during the European and local elections of 2019. In short, logic means that there is every possibility to think that Orban and his people will try every way to manipulate the elections again. April.

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