Prime minister Viktor Orban’s ruling Fidesz party is, however, in trouble and, reports say, trailing in multiple opinion polls. Indeed, visitors to Budapest, never mind Hungarian voters, could be forgiven for wondering where Moscow-sympathising strongman Orban is in all this – you would be hard-pressed to see his picture on any of his party’s posters. Curiously, what you will see on Fidesz posters are faces of Orban’s “bogeymen”: Ukrainian president Volodymyr Zelenskiy, opposition Tisza party leader Péter Magyar and European Commission president Ursula von der Leyen. A smiling portrait of Zelenskiy features in posters in the Hungarian capital, but the words underneath are not ones of support. Orban appears to enjoy support among some Hungarians for his stance on Ukraine, though: Hungary gets oil from Russia via a pipeline that runs through Ukraine.

Source: The Irish Times March 31, 2026 14:02 UTC