An election too close to call as Hungary approaches its Orban crossroads

Hungary has a big choice to make in April: four more years of Viktor Orban or a brand new government, reports Amanda Coakley

Hungary’s prime minister Viktor Orban (AFP/Getty)

On 16 June 1989, a scruffy 26-year-old man nobody had heard of sparked hope across communist Hungary. Delivering the final speech at a memorial service for the heroes of the 1956 uprising against the USSR, Viktor Orban demanded the withdrawal of Soviet troops and a new era for his country.

“If we trust our own strength, then we will be able to put an end to the communist dictatorship,” he told the crowd of over 250,000 people. “If we are determined enough, then we can compel the ruling party to face free elections.”

Thirty-three years later thousands of Hungarians are once again calling for free elections, only this time the request isn’t being made against some foreign power but against Orban himself, now the leader of the ruling Fidesz party and seeking a fourth consecutive term in office this spring. Having first come to office in 1998 and returning in 2010 with a two-thirds “supermajority” in parliament, Orban has quickly abandoned his liberal principles in the pursuit of power.