Hungary: Orbán’s party has significantly lost support

Since February 2023, the ruling party in Hungary, Fidesz, has lost 400 thousand supporters.

This is evidenced by a survey by the Median Center, published on October 5 by the hvg.hu portal.

Support for Prime Minister Viktor Orban’s party among the population has fallen from 35% to 30%.

However, according to the study, the decline in support for Fidesz did not occur in parallel with the growth of the opposition’s popularity.

Over the past six months, support for left-wing and liberal parties has declined, while support for the nationalist movement Our Homeland (Mi Hazank) has increased.

Due to the decline in support, Fidesz adopted a bold strategy by holding European Parliamentary elections next year along with local elections.

According to estimates, Orban’s party can expect 46% support in the European Parliament elections, 6.5 percentage points less than in 2019 and 8 percentage points less than in last year’s parliamentary elections.

During the September data collection, the Hungarian population was gripped by pessimism that had not been present since December last year. 65% of respondents said that everything in the country was going in the wrong direction, and only 28% believed that Hungary was moving in the right direction.

As reported by the media, Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban said at a meeting with his Fidesz party colleagues and supporters that he plans to lead the country until 2034. Earlier, he had publicly hinted several times that he planned to be head of government until 2030.

At the same meeting, according to media reports, Orban announced a major 15-point plan for the country’s development.

Viktor Orban has been criticised in the EU for its authoritarian and nationalist stance. He has been at odds with Brussels over the migration and asylum for refugees. Viktor Orban is also against the EU policy to support Ukraine to help it repel Russia’s war aggression, and he criticised Western economic sanctions against Moscow for its war.