After 16 years in power, Putin’s closest friend in Europe faces a pivotal election

He is no liberal, but rather a moderate conservative figure who has seized on Hungarians’ dissatisfaction with rising living costs, corruption and crumbling public services.

Orbán’s pitch has largely centered around Russia’s war in neighboring Ukraine. He has singled out Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy for frequent attacks, echoing his earlier campaigns that heavily targeted the political influence of George Soros, the Jewish Hungarian American billionaire philanthropist — a tactic that has drawn accusations of antisemitism and the fueling of conspiracy theories.

In the run-up to the vote, Orbán accused Ukraine of sabotaging a key oil pipeline, while Hungarian authorities seized a shipment of cash from a Ukrainian bank.

The Hungarian leader says that the war should be finished as quickly as possible, not prolonged by further Western support for Ukraine. He argues this is about Hungary’s border security and energy independence, but opponents say it has more to do with pleasing his friends in the Kremlin.

The rest of Orbán’s pitch is similar to the playbook he has deployed previously, painting the vote as an existential struggle against liberal values, immigration and what he calls “gender ideology,” having already imposed a ban on Pride marches and LGBTQ events that provoked international condemnation.

“We must save Western civilization,” he told a rally Tuesday alongside Vance. “To do this, we must fight the progressives nestled in Brussels, we must end the Russian-Ukrainian war, and we must solve the energy crisis.”

In Budapest ahead of the vote, people were divided on whether Orbán’s long political rule could really come to an end.

“A lot of people are bored of the Orbán system — the last 15 years has been enough,” said Mate Khoor, 46, a hotel owner and Fidesz party member from the small village of Csór who was in the crowd at the Orbán-Vance rally. “But Orbán is strong and the party is strong,” he said. “I think it can be a big win. I don’t think Peter Magyar will win this election.”

More hopeful about Magyar’s chances is Anna Fetter, 27, who has just moved back to Hungary after 10 years in the United States. She said that it felt “really daunting and unwelcoming to live” in the U.S., citing Trump’s anti-immigrant rhetoric and raids by ICE.

She was one of a handful of protesters outside the Orbán-Vance news conference in the heart of Budapest. Now back in her homeland, she hopes that Trump’s allies will be outvoted this Sunday, adding: “I am a supporter of change.”