Fidesz and the Christian Democratic People’s Party (KDNP) will run in the upcoming parliamentary elections with 65 old and 41 new candidates, Prime Minister-President of Fidesz Viktor Orbán announced at the party’s 31st congress held on Saturday in Budapest.
The Prime Minister said at the Saturday congress they introduced their constituency candidates, while by 20 February, they would also introduce the Fidesz-KDNP party list and list leader.
“Even after twenty years of premiership, I’m still ready for the job,” he observed, adding laughingly that “I’m again at the best age,” mentioning the ages of several foreign leaders.
He recalled that Fidesz had won four consecutive parliamentary elections with a two-thirds majority, but they had also won every municipal election for twenty years and had likewise won all European Parliament elections since Hungary’s EU accession.
Mr Orbán highlighted that instead of the ‘don’t change a winning team’ principle he believed in “the church is always in need of reform because only Fidesz is better than Fidesz.”
Regarding the candidates, he said they are self-confident and experienced people, precisely the kinds of people Hungary needs in order to live in peace and security.
He thanked the “tested and tried fellow fighters” who agreed to share their knowledge and experience with the young politicians replacing them and to help them during the campaign.
He stressed that they would guarantee that all candidates stood for the same principles of life and values that had made Hungary successful and had made the party itself unprecedentedly successful. In Fidesz, even the generational change is taking place in an organised and carefully considered manner, and in concord, he observed.
This is no time for experimenting lunatics. We are living in an era of threats, only trustworthy, loyal and experienced governments can offer the people a peaceful, safe and predictable life, Mr Orbán stated.
He stressed that calm self-confidence was now needed the most in Hungary.
At the upcoming elections we will have to defeat not only our political opponents, he added, stating that “in actual fact, we will have to score a victory over the notions of lying, frivolity, cynicism, deceit and submission, and all their representatives in the land.”
Mr Orbán stressed that in Fidesz even the generational change was taking place in an organised and carefully considered manner, and in concord. Everyone knows their place, is aware of their respective role, and can fulfil their task with self-confidence.
Those who belong to us can rest assured that the community always counts on them and they, too, can count on the community. If there is such a thing as a Fidesz quality, it means camaraderie, Mr Orbán observed.
He added that the development and ongoing maintenance of the culture of camaraderie was the duty of the party president of the day, “and this is the achievement I’m the proudest of,” the party president-prime minister stated.
He highlighted that camaraderie was important because “only such a political force is capable of creating national unity which is capable of the same within itself,” and “in a nation’s life there is nothing more important than unity, there is nothing more important than shared faith in the nation’s future, meaning national unity” which only Fidesz and the Christian Democratic People’s Party can provide for Hungary.
He stressed that camaraderie gave a chance for sincerity. This in turn allows for clear, understandable and straight talk which is a special thing in today’s world as something has changed for the worse; a lack of seriousness, an absence of responsibility is gaining ground.
Mr Orbán mentioned that also in Hungarian politics there were some who made promises, lied or denied facts without consequences, but this was not the Hungarians’ world. Lying may well be a customary habit in liberal democracy, but in ours it cannot become one, he observed.
He stressed that on the side of the patriots, this was unacceptable, in fact, it was a capital political offence because “our world is straight talk, factual argumentation and objective reasoning,” adding that they should be proud of the fact that the Hungarian government is the only government in the entire western world which has consulted the people about migration, child protection, the reduction of household energy bills and the war.
It is only sincere and serious talk that can provide the self-confidence that is necessary for calm and composed governance, Mr Orbán stressed, describing reality as the number one ally of a good government.
He highlighted that his government had delivered on the promise of creating a workfare economy, “we protected Hungarian children from gender deviance” and created Europe’s first family taxation system.
A robust team, a team comprised of 106 carefully selected candidates representing the highest quality, Mr Orbán said regarding Fidesz-KDNP’s candidates for constituency Members of Parliament.
The President of Fidesz said this is a team from which he could form not one, but two entire governments already tomorrow morning.
He said, in contrast to their opponents, their candidates’ “vocal cords are intact, they have a voice.” Their candidates are not lacking in anything, they have a voice, a position, views and programmes, and are not afraid to talk about them, he pointed out.
“We’re not shilly-shallying, we’re not prevaricating, we’re proudly standing before the Hungarian people, asking them to give us another mandate for four years. We don’t look down on anyone, we don’t forget about anyone, for us everyone is important,” he laid down.
The Prime Minister asked the candidates to speak to everyone, but in addition to other topics, above all about the war, migration and the threat of gender ideology. They have one common point, namely that they cannot be undone, if you messed up once, you cannot rectify it, he stated.
We know migration, we have tangible experience of it, we see it in our immediate neighbourhood, in Austria and in every Western European country West of it because once you let migrants in, once you surrendered to their invasion, you will never be able to return to the conditions that existed before, he argued. Not even if electors admit that they bet on the wrong horse and now elect right-wing, anti-migration, patriotic governments, he added.
Continuing this line of thought, the party president laid down that an immigrant country could not be turned back into a non-immigrant country. Those who let them in can now only decide on the modalities of living together, they can no longer rectify the trouble at its roots. This is how our Western European friends have become irreversibly immigrant countries, he pointed out.
The Prime Minister said Brussels is mercilessly executing its plan, turning everyone who doesn’t rebel into an immigrant country. The Brussels bureaucrats want not to stop, but to regulate immigration, he added. Brussels is an enemy of European Christian civilisation, he laid down.
It is precisely the way it says in the US national security strategy: Europe has lost its civilisational roots. However, the Americans are wrong on one point, Western Europe is not losing its classic Christian European civilisation, but is surrendering it, in fact, it is replacing it, he said.
However, they have not succeeded in removing either Jesus Christ, patriotism or life instincts to defend one’s children from the hearts of the European people, he pointed out. He stressed that from the liberals’ point of view the majority of European natives were hopeless because they could not be re-educated. They turn back to Christian teachings time and time again, patriotism is rekindled in their hearts and they do not allow their children to be treated as gender guinea pigs, he pointed out.
Native Europeans of our kind are a relapsing kind, they are incorrigible, we are incorrigible, and so useless; in fact, in their eyes, dangerous, too. We must be neutralised. The concentrate is too powerful, it must be watered down, and if that’s not enough, we must be replaced. Step by step, denying the ultimate goal, Mr Orbán said.
The European liberal elite is using the Brussels bureaucracy, European law and the Luxembourg judges to crush the resistance of the rebelling countries. This is why they imposed a daily fine of one million euros (more than HUF 385 million) on Hungary, he highlighted. It is easy to calculate that the fine of one million euros a day for the maintenance of Christian Hungarian civilisation is a much lesser price compared with the migration expenditures of a Hungary turned into an immigrant country, and then we did not even consider the things that cannot be expressed in monetary terms, he stated, pointing out that additionally, Hungary will recover even the amount that it has paid as a fine so far.
One of the stakes of the elections is whether we surrender to Brussels and turn Hungary, too, into an immigrant country, or continue rebelling and repel every Brussels migration attempt, “Tisza and DK included,” the party president said.
I suggest that we continue rebelling, the Prime Minister laid down.
Mr Orbán said with the migration pact they demand that we build a refugee camp for tens of thousands of migrants and immediately take over from western countries several hundred migrants whom they let in.
Both Tisza and DK support the migration pact; in fact, they even voted for its accelerated introduction in the European Parliament, he observed.
Those who do not vote for Fidesz vote for migration, Mr Orbán stressed, adding that in addition to violence, migration also brings with it anti-Semitism, and at that, violent anti-Semitism.
Jewish families are leaving Western European countries one after the other. Slowly but surely, Hungary will have the largest Jewish community in the whole of Europe, he said.
The Budapest Jewish community is safe here solely and exclusively because the country is governed by Fidesz and the Christian Democratic People’s Party, and “we’re defending them from what’s happening to them in Western Europe,” Mr Orbán pointed out.
The Prime Minister stressed that in Hungary, there was zero tolerance towards anti-Semitism and security for everyone.
He also spoke about the fact that the liberal left-wing tradition was strong in Budapest, and Fidesz was a right-wing, patriotic party. However, “times are changing and this must also be understood in Budapest.”
Mr Orbán said liberal left-wing parties today pose a threat and bring trouble onto the heads of the Jewish community living here. Fidesz and the Christian Democratic People’s Party are the only political force that is willing and able to guarantee their security, the Prime Minister stressed.
Mr Orbán said for those who set out on the Brussels path, gender ideology, too, is mandatory, over there, “Sleeping Beauty could be turned into Sleeping Barry,” over there, there are not only men and women, but all sorts of other strange creatures as well.
The deviance propaganda, sensitisation reaches everyone, they are re-wiring the brains of children, within a single generation, they are changing the cultural foundations of countries, and this is irreversible, he warned.
He pointed out that this could not happen here; this is one more reason why “kinds like Tisza and DK” must be kept well away from government.
Mr Orbán highlighted that in the April elections there would be two paths ahead of us: one path, the Hungarian path is the path of peace, while the other one, Brussels’ path is the path of war.
It is very rare that a nation can decide on its fate under such clear conditions, but this suits Fidesz: “Communists or freedom fight? Comecon or European Union? Warsaw Pact or NATO? Migrants or security? Gender or family?” he recalled, adding that now we must choose between war and peace as well.
He said Tisza and DK want to change the Hungarian economy over to the Brussels war economy, and those who set out on that path will eventually have to sacrifice everything.
He added that Brussels wanted to go to war without having the money for it. So far, they have spent EUR 180 billion (almost HUF 70,000 billion) and are now giving Ukraine another war loan of EUR 90 billion (HUF 35,000 billion) which the Ukrainians would never be able to repay.
This money can only be recovered if they defeat Russia and oblige it to pay war reparations. This is why they are rushing headlong into the war, running after their “wasted money” which additionally they themselves provided from credit, squandering their children’s future, Mr Orbán pointed out.
“Young Hungarians, if you vote for Tisza or DK, you vote against your own future” because Tisza and DK will execute the Brussels demands without batting an eye, he warned, also mentioning that “Tisza’s boss, Herr Weber is Europe’s number one war agitator.”
He also said a young person who votes for Tisza destroys their own future and will repay the part falling on them of the war loan given to Ukraine throughout their lifetime.
“Join us before Weber and Brussels conscript you and send you to Ukraine,” he said, addressing young Hungarians.
“If a Tisza-DK government enters the war, joining Brussels, and re-organises the Hungarian economy, then it’s all over for you Dear Young Hungarians,” Mr Orbán stated.
He recalled that also in 2002 many had thought that things could only get better, but it had turned into an utter economic breakdown and a wasted eight years in the end.
He spoke about the fact that, in addition to its security and war expenditures, Ukraine had demanded another USD 800 billion for the next ten years, while Brussels had issued the order that “Hungary, too, must join the European war economy,” coupled with demands, calling for the revocation of a number of benefits for members of the public.
In his speech, Mr Orbán urged Mayor of Budapest Gergely Karácsony to stick his finger up not to the government, but to Brussels as the EU would take the most money away from Budapest as this is where there the most is to be found.
Ukraine is making us weaker, not stronger. In fact, if things continue like this, they will destroy the entire European economy, Mr Orbán pointed out.
He stressed that sending money to Ukraine was like pouring it into a bottomless pit, not even mentioning corruption in the neighbouring country. “I agree with the Czechs. Let them steal all they like, just not from us,” Mr Orbán said, highlighting that the Democratic administration of the United States pushed the Europeans into the war which the Americans have now quit, having a new pro-peace president.
Compared with this, he observed, in Europe there are still the same leaders who took their countries to war, then stressed that those who had any sense did not allow themselves to be shunted onto the war track, would not change their economies to wartime mode.
Mr Orbán spoke about the fact that after 2022, Brussels’ plan had failed again in 2026 because “you can’t replace the Hungarian government from Brussels” as the Hungarians do not trust foreigners and their “candidates for governor.”
Regarding the party “spoken about as a board game called Tisza,” Mr Orbán said “it’s only a left-wing re-wiring, a left-wing facelift,” “what we’re now watching is the old show with a new man,” adding that “this cannot be sold here in the region of the Danube, a play like this always flops.”
When someone talks about self-orchestrated assassination attempts, in-flying drones and election fraud, we know that they are already finding excuses for their election defeat, the President of Fidesz observed, taking the view that in Brussels “Papa Manfred” and “Mama Ursula” will comfort them.
Regarding the rearrangement of international politics, Mr Orbán stressed that the world in which we had learnt to exist after 1990 was no more, a series of uncertainties and threats were awaiting us, international treaties and organisations were nothing more now than toothless lions.
An era of bilateral agreements, personal relationships, interests and power has dawned on us, he said.
We started preparations in time, those who are today crying over the coffin of the liberal world order the loudest did not know or did not want to understand what Hungary was doing and why, Mr Orbán pointed out.
We, however, know that he who laughs last, laughs longest, he added. At present, Washington, Beijing, Moscow and Istanbul all have a vested interest in Hungary’s success, he laid down, we have concluded dozens of agreements with the world’s leading powers which will guarantee Hungary’s safe development “even in the new world order evoking the spirit of Western films.”
Mr Orbán pointed out that a robust argument for the Hungarian path was that the other path was a dead-end. The number one argument for the Hungarian being the right path is that we are able to achieve results which others can only dream about, he stated. To support this, he mentioned that against the background of 4 per cent inflation and 0.6 per cent economic growth, we alone were capable of an 11 per cent minimum wage increase.
He also drew attention to the fact that no other country in the world was able to grant mothers raising two children lifetime personal income tax exemption.
Due to the Brussels wartime economy, there are austerity measures in every country. We pledged to build 150 factories, and 101 of these are already being built, the Prime Minister highlighted. While they are introducing austerity measures, we are doubling the tax benefit available in relation to children, are introducing the fourteenth monthly pension and have launched a first-home programme with fixed three per cent interest which is unique in the whole of Europe, he listed.
The Hungarian path is peaceful, safe and successful, it leads upwards, and on this path every Hungarian can take a step forward every year, he stated.
“It is no exaggeration to say, now of all times it isn’t, that in the spring of 2026 we will elect a fate in Hungary and for Hungary,” he said.
Not a party, not a government, not a prime minister; we are going to battle in order to win not the chance to govern in the next four years, but the future of the Hungarian nation, the Prime Minister laid down.
If everyone does the job allotted to them, if no one gets ahead of themselves and if we preserve humility, then “the reward, too, will be forthcoming, and we will win again,” Mr Orbán said, concluding his speech.
