– Orbán or Europe – that’s what we are voting on – VG

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Sunday is the election for a new National Assembly in Hungary, and like so much else now, it is marked by the war in Ukraine.

And the man seeking re-election as prime minister of the European country will keep the ties close to power in Moscow.

Orbán, who has been accused of using xenophobia as a means of intimidating voters, continues to attract attention after 12 years in power.

This time it is for his relationship with Putin’s Russia.

Not with to Kyiv

Viktor Orbán has over time approached Russia in search of both economic and political gain.

Just weeks before Russia’s invasion of Ukraine met Orbán Putin to discuss the escalating conflict.

At a time when the rest of the West is turning an icy back to Putin, Hungary is becoming a destabilizing factor in both NATO and the EU that the Kremlin may appreciate.

Want choice of direction in Hungary: – Orbán is Putin’s dog

Although Hungary is Ukraine’s neighbor, Orbán did not join when the prime ministers of the other countries traveled to Kyiv to show their support for Zelensky.

Orbán’s position in the heated Ukraine-Russia conflict has made Poland, the Czech Republic and Slovakia increasingly critical of Hungary.

Although Hungary, as a NATO and EU member, contributes to forces at Ukraine’s borders and sanctions against Russia, Orbán will not introduce any measures that could backfire on Hungary economically.

He also does not want to send weapons to Ukraine and denies that weapons are sent across Hungary’s borders to Ukraine.

Not «Ukrainian-friendly»

While as many as 91 percent of Hungarian opposition voters believe that Russia is the attacking party in the war in Ukraine, only 44 percent of Orbán’s party’s voters think the same, according to a survey by Public-institute.

Orbán himself is betting that a good relationship with Russia will keep Hungary out of the war.

– God will not hold me responsible for the Ukrainian people, but for the Hungarian. Hungary’s policy is neither pro-Ukrainian nor pro-Russian. It is Hungarian-friendly, the prime minister said in a radio interview last week, according to Politico.

Ballot papers in the rubbish

In the last days leading up to the election on Sunday, both election observers and Hungarian newspapers report on ballot papers going astray.

The most sensational story is from Transilvania, where a sack full of partially burned ballot papers is said to have been found near an illegal landfill, according to Hungary Today.

All the burned ballot papers, from Hungarians with voting rights living in Romania, are said to have been in support of the opposition parties.

Undemocratic

Orban and his party has received criticism from, among others, the EU, the Helsinki Committee, Transparency International and Freedom House for the country developing in an increasingly corrupt and undemocratic direction.

– Democracy itself is at stake in Hungary, says democracy expert and political scientist Staffan Lindberg at the University of Gothenburg to NTB.

Orbán’s challenger for the job of prime minister, the Christian conservative Péter Márki-Zay, has before the election been subjected to an extensive smear campaign where posters with his face are printed with negative messages.

“After twelve years of brainwashing, it is truly an achievement that we still have a fighting chance in this election,” Márki-Zay told Morgenbladet.

Planning a full-scale observation mission

The Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe (OSCE) is planning a full-scale observation mission during the elections, which is a rarity and has only been done once before in Europe, according to France 24.

The organization has already noticed that many of the problems they pointed out in the last election have not been addressed.

The 2018 election was the “dirtiest in the last 30 years”, says the leader of the election observation group Unhack Democracy, according to RFI.

Her group concluded that there were, among other things, bribes, threats, tampering with postal votes, ballot papers going astray and errors in the software of the electoral system, writes RFI.

The left-liberal opposition politician and Member of the European Parliament Klára Dobrev told the same newspaper that the war has given the Hungarians an increased sense of insecurity ahead of the election.

– Orbán or Europe – that’s what we are voting on, she says.

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