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Budapest, Hungary — <\/span>Prime Minister of Hungary viktor orban<\/a>The EU’s longest-serving leader and one of its biggest opponents has come a long way for the EU since its early days as a liberal, anti-Soviet firebrand. russia friendly<\/a> The nationalist is today praised by the global far-right.<\/p>\n After dominating Hungarian politics for more than two decades, the 62-year-old is likely to face defeat during Sunday’s elections, bringing a spectacular end to his 16-year reign. He ranks number one in most surveys double digit loss<\/a> – despite recent Visit of US Vice President JD Vance<\/a> Its purpose was to increase his chances. <\/p>\n Confronting the center-right Tisza Party and its faction Popular leader, Peter Magyar<\/a>Orb\u00e1n has launched a barrage of disinformation and AI-generated defamatory ads, and warned voters Bankruptcy and all-out war<\/a> If he loses, I will come to Hungary.<\/p>\n Orb\u00e1n, a symbol of the country’s emerging democracy in the 1990s, has resorted to a strategy that may have shocked his early supporters and possibly his younger supporters.<\/p>\n Beloved by many older and more rural Hungarians and despised by opponents, Orban has emerged as the country’s most consequential leader since the transition to democracy at the end of the Cold War.<\/p>\n Born in 1963, Orb\u00e1n grew up in a simple home in rural Fels\u0151ts, about 20 miles (32 kilometers) outside Budapest. a brilliant student and football fan<\/a>He studied law and later went to Oxford to study political science under a scholarship given by a foundation run by George Soros, the Hungarian-born financier who Orb\u00e1n would later become. Frame as the country’s most terrifying bogeyman<\/a>.<\/p>\n In 1988, Orb\u00e1n co-founded Fidesz, originally a liberal, anti-communist youth party. The following year, as a 26-year-old law student, he gave a fiery speech in front of thousands of people, demanding Soviet troops leave Hungary \u2013 a bold move during the waning days of the Communist era.<\/p>\n After first entering parliament in 1990 as head of the Fidesz caucus, he became one of Europe’s youngest prime ministers by winning national elections in 1998 at the age of 35. But as Hungary’s political dynamics changed and other liberal parties emerged, they began to move Fidesz to the right, turning it into a vehicle for rising nationalist conservatism.<\/p>\n Many observers see the 2002 election, when he was defeated by Hungary’s Socialist Party, as a turning point in Orb\u00e1n’s approach to power. Speaking to Fidesz members later, he set the agenda for major changes he would introduce once back in office.<\/p>\n “We only have to win once, but we have to win big,” he said.<\/p>\n It took eight years to lead the opposition in Parliament, but it ultimately resulted in a major victory. Orb\u00e1n returned as Prime Minister in 2010 due to dissatisfaction with the 2008 global financial crisis as well as the scandal and mismanagement of the socialist government. Fidesz won a two-thirds majority in parliament.<\/p>\n This proved to be a turning point. With its massive mandate, Fidesz began working to reshape Hungary by writing unilaterally new constitution<\/a>again rigging the electoral system and stacking the courts<\/a>.<\/p>\n Meanwhile, Orb\u00e1n began awarding largely EU-funded public contracts to companies owned by loyalists. In return they are faithful bought hundreds of media outlets<\/a> and forced others to close. By the end of the decade, it was estimated that Fidesz and its allies controlled up to 80% of Hungary’s private media market.<\/p>\n Using the power and resources of the state, Orb\u00e1n has turned public media into the mouthpiece of his party, and has spent billions on state-funded communications \u2013 billboards, advertisements and letters to homes \u2013 to promote his stories. Media monitoring organization Reporters Without Borders has Called him a “predator” of press freedom.<\/a><\/p>\n Despite warnings from the EU and international monitors \u2013 the European Parliament declared Hungary a “Electoral Autocracy”<\/a> In 2022 \u2013 Orb\u00e1n’s supporters praise him as a defender of Christian values \u200b\u200band national sovereignty in the face of globalization, mass migration, and what they describe as an oppressive European Union.<\/p>\n seem to be enjoying do not disturb<\/a> EU decision making, Orb\u00e1n created border fence<\/a> and enacted Strict immigration and asylum policies<\/a>Incorporating migrants and refugees as part of a global move to “replace” Europe’s white population.<\/p>\n He said at a party meeting<\/a> In Romania in 2022 that “we don’t want to be a mixed-race people.”<\/p>\n Orb\u00e1n’s government has often clashed with Brussels on issues like corruption, press freedom, judicial independence, etc. Anti-LGBTQ+ laws<\/a>. More recently, this has happened EU efforts blocked<\/a> Supporting Ukraine and sanctioning Russia on its full-scale invasion.<\/p>\n near the block frozen billions<\/a> in financing Hungary concern about rules and regulations<\/a>. In response, Orb\u00e1n campaigned heavily against the EU, comparing it to the Soviet Union, which had dominated Hungary for more than four decades.<\/p>\n Orb\u00e1n has also forged close ties with like-minded leaders including US President Donald Trump and Russian President Vladimir Putin. he is made Common cause with Euroskeptic, far-right parties<\/a>Prediction of a “patriotic” takeover of EU institutions.<\/p>\n By pursuing a foreign policy contrary to the Western consensus, he faced accusations that he was working to benefit Moscow.<\/p>\n