Why JD Vance is helping right wing populist Viktor Orbán’s failing election campaign in Hungary
US vice president JD Vance is in Budapest in a last minute attempt to boost the campaign of Hungarian prime minister Viktor Orbán, a key European ally of the Trump administration, ahead of Sunday’s parliamentary elections.
Orbán’s Fidesz political party is lagging in the polls, with the opposition Tisza party – led by Péter Magyar, a former Fidesz insider – well ahead at 58% to Orbán’s 35%.
The populist right wing leader will be battling to extend his 16-year grip on power, during which he has turned the central European country into what he calls an “illiberal democracy”.
Vance is a longtime supporter of Orbán and will be trying to drum up support, particularly from undecided voters, with a joint press conference in the capital, followed by a flag-waving rally at a 24,000-seat football stadium.
During the press conference on Tuesday Vance lambasted EU “bureaucrats in Brussels” who he said were interfering with the elections in “one of the worst examples of foreign election interference” he has ever seen.
He also accused them of trying to “destroy the economy of Hungary. They have tried to make Hungary less energy independent. They have tried to drive up costs for Hungarian consumers. And they’ve done it all because they hate this guy.”
Vance went on to say he is “here to help him in this election campaign” and that he was expecting him to win the vote on Sunday. He praised Orbán who he says has “ferociously advocated” for his country and “stands up for the values of western civilisation”.
Orbán is one of several hard right allies in Europe that the Trump administration has been trying to cultivate, along with the AFD in Germany and Marine Le Pen’s Front National, in an effort to extend its conservative influence.
Trump has previously praised him as “one of the strongest” world leaders, which is in stark contrast to how he views other leaders in the EU.
Last year, Vance made a much-criticised speech at the Munich Security Conference attacking Europe and claiming its leaders were suppressing free speech, blaming the continent for mass migration, and accusing it of retreating from "some of its most fundamental values".
Over his 16 years in power, Orbán has restricted the judiciary, muzzled the free press, and curtailed LGBTQ+ rights. He portrays Hungary as a “Christian democracy” under continual threat from refugees and the LGBTQ+ community.
Orbán is also a close ally of Russia and has long been unsupportive of Ukraine, using veto powers to block a €90 billion EU aid package to Ukraine in February. He has also said that Hungarians should “fear the EU more than Russia”.
But now it looks like his time as the EU’s longest serving head of government could finally be up.
Péter Magyar’s centre right party is leading by at least 10 percentage points in the polls, as voters have become frustrated with a stagnant economy and cronyism, with many young people seeing Orbán as being part of the “corrupt ruling elite”.
The 45-year-old Magyar has surged in popularity mainly because of his promises to stamp out corruption and reverse the declining quality of life in the country.
However, it does not look like Vance’s trip to Hungary will do much to push Orbán to victory.
US Secretary of State Marco Rubio also visited in February to try to boost Orbán’s campaign, but actually did the opposite – independent opinion surveys following his trip showed the opposition widened its lead.
And a survey in February by the Publicus Institute Hungary found that 48 percent of respondents thought the Trump presidency would have a negative impact on Hungary.
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