In Hungary, first electoral debate on public television in 18 years

This article was originally published in Hungarian

Thousands of people gathered in central Budapest on Thursday to watch the first election debate organized by Hungarian television in 18 years.

This mobilization was organized by Péter Magyar, a former regime executive, who in three months became the new figurehead of the opposition to Viktor Orbán. He virulently attacks the government, which has transformed public media into a propaganda machine. He had been calling for a debate on state television for weeks, which was finally accepted, but in conditions considered very imperfect by the European candidates.

The Hungarian public broadcaster has set the discussion topics for the 11 main candidates in advance.

Since Fidesz came to power in 2010, no party leaders’ debates have taken place on public television before parliamentary, local or European elections. From now on, candidates for the European elections only have 8 minutes each to convince voters.

During the debate, ruling Fidesz party candidate Tamás Deutsch criticized left-wing MEPs for voting in favor of sending weapons to Ukraine.

The leader of the list of the Left Alliance, the main opposition alliance, Klára Dobrev, targeted the Hungarian Prime Minister, calling him a shame of Europe.

The far-right party, Our Homeland, the main ally of Fidesz, has confirmed its intention to unite with the AfD and the Bulgarian far-right for the European elections.

Since his return to power in 2010, the Hungarian media landscape has been profoundly reshaped: public media have become the conduit for official policy, while those close to power have bought entire sections of the private media sector.

During the last legislative elections of 2022, marked by a large victory for the Orbán camp, international observers pointed out “media bias”, mainly for the benefit of the government party, “limiting” according to them “the capacity” Hungarians to “make an informed choice”.