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The EP elections were a chance to slow down the drift into the war. “If we look at them from that point of view, what happened was what we wanted,” the Prime Minister concluded.
In France, this process has even been stopped. There, pro-peace forces scored a victory with such force that new parliament elections have been called. “We look forward to President Donald Trump winning the second half of the match in the United States, and then there will be peace,” Mr Orbán added.
He highlighted that this many people had never before voted for Fidesz-KDNP in any EP election as the government parties had received more than two million votes. This is a European record result, by far the biggest support that any political actor received, Mr Orbán stated regarding the 44.6 per cent achieved in the election.
He added that participation in the elections was compulsory in three or four countries, and there turnout was evidently higher, but Hungary’s 57 per cent “sends us to the vanguard” and shows that “Hungarian democracy is alive and well.” He thanked the electors “who set this fantastic record.”
Regarding mobilisation, he said there is always a certain percentage of citizens who must be contacted in order to encourage them to vote, and so mobilisation is key. Attendance was this high because the people knew how high the stakes in the elections were, that they had to choose between war and peace, and they knew that there was a chance for victory if they asked every elector to go to the polls.
In the context of the newly-formed Tisza Party, the Prime Minister said “it complicated our lives.” It complicated even further the elections which were complicated enough as they were because they were required to defeat two oppositions: the old one and also the new one. They have also defeated the new one, by 14 per cent which he regards as an especially valuable result, and so they were compelled to fight against not one united opposition, but two different ones.
Concerning the municipal elections, there are cities in which they have preserved or even increased the level of trust, they have regained some big cities, but have also lost others. The conclusion is that they will have to work harder, and only humble work can help, Mr Orbán pointed out, adding that he has always believed in hard work, the campaign is only “the last phase.”
He said he is happy that they have not lost more cities than they have gained, that in Budapest their positions have not weakened and that they won the EP election “streets ahead” of the opposition “in this difficult war situation.”
“We had to operate the war machinery in a very complex environment,” and what made the elections even more complicated was that “in the meantime, we had to keep watching the other European parties out of the corner of our eye,” the Prime Minister said in continuation. He recalled that his message was ‘war or peace’ and that the EP elections were a chance to slow down or to stop the drift into the war first in Europe and then in America. If we fail in this, “if we’re unable to pull both halves of the match off,” then soon “we will be in a war up to our necks.”
“What happened was what we planned, what we wanted, we have managed to slow this train down, but it can even be brought to a halt. For instance, in France, a political landslide occurred, the pro-peace forces won in such a high percentage,” Mr Orbán explained. He observed that they now looked forward to “President Trump winning the second half of the match in the United States, and then there will be peace.”
The Prime Minister stressed that there was more than a year and a half until the parliamentary elections in 2026 during which period they will have to perform the “little routine chores of governance.” There is plenty of work to do, they must concentrate on restarting economic growth, on preventing inflation from getting out of control again, on preserving the value of pensions, on retaining full employment, on securing the funds for the re-launched housing programmes, he listed.
“You can’t govern in campaign logic; governance is always about the country’s calm daily life, but in the meantime we must keep an eye on the issue of war and peace because if we drift into the war, everything will be lost,” Mr Orbán warned.
Regarding the post-EP election situation, Mr Orbán said if the two right-wing political groups – the conservatives and Identity – come to an agreement and Fidesz-KDNP also joins them, then they will find themselves in second position on the right with only the People’s Party ahead of them, but if they succeed in creating a strong right, “that will have gravitational attraction,” and so parties from the People’s Party group may also join them. “Here, we need the agreement of the big ones, if that is achieved, that will open a clean and straight path for Fidesz as well,” the Prime Minister explained, stating his view.
He also spoke about the fact that they did better in the municipal elections than was expected, but they would have liked to preserve all positions and to gain the trust of the residents of even more settlements. He added that they had regained four county-ranked cities, but had lost three, and had become by far the strongest force in every county general assembly. “In twenty counties, we have remained a dominant political force; as regards the districts of Budapest, it’s a draw, we have lost one and we have regained one,” he said, listing the details.
He stressed at the same time that “to be 14 per cent ahead of the party in second position in such war times, with such an excruciating year of inflation behind us is a fair result.” He observed that he would also accept this result in 2026 because in a parliamentary election this would have given the governing parties a very confident advantage.
That is how democracy works, every election is difficult, success is not gifted for free, for the time being, we should be happy that we have yesterday’s result under our belt, Mr Orbán said.
Regarding the withdrawal of Fidesz-KDNP candidate for Mayor of Budapest Alexandra Szentkirályi, he said “the situation was – in the opinion of the government-party candidate – that if all three of them remained in the race, then there would be no change in Budapest.” Alexandra Szentkirályi suggested that “we should go for the chance that opens up with her withdrawal,” the Prime Minister added.
He pointed out that in Budapest, a very great deal of work had to be done as it was a city on the verge of bankruptcy. “A lot of hard work needs to be done in order for the people of Budapest to be able to live in the city which they deserve,” Mr Orbán stressed.
He also mentioned that in politics it was only time and the work accomplished – service – that counted. In every election in Hungary, the people appreciate the fact that – in contrast to almost all other European countries – over here there is stable and predictable governance. Only twenty per cent of his job is political work, the remaining eighty per cent is governance; however, in Western Europe, this is the other way around.
“If you have a gold reserve behind you, you’ll win,” the Prime Minister said, adding that Hungarians look forward, to the next elections, but now we have to work hard, “when the time comes, we will fight and we will win.”
“We can’t swim a world record time in every race, but there is no party today either in Europe, or in Hungary that wouldn’t be happy to be in our place,” Mr Orbán said in conclusion.
