On Tuesday, prosecutors reportedly seized electronic communications from Viktor Orbán’s Fidesz party, prompting comparisons to the era of Hungary’s former communist regime.
According to reports, prosecutors searched the IT systems of the nationalist conservative Fidesz party, intending to examine the opposition’s complete electronic communications.
The investigation has left the party’s email system and website inaccessible to its officials, effectively taking them over.
It is believed that the raid relates to an inquiry concerning the alleged misallocation of the National Cultural Fund (NKA), where about 17 billion forints (around $53 million) has been suggested to have been improperly distributed starting in 2024, including to members of Funari’s artistic community associated with the former Orbán government.
This action came shortly after newly elected Prime Minister Péter Magyar’s neoliberal Tisza government forced the resignation of Orbán’s political ally, Tamás Surok, who still had three years left in his term.
Mr. Surok agreed to resign after signing an amendment, but a former constitutional judge warned that this move marked a significant shift for democracy in Hungary.
“Removing public officials in a way that openly contravenes the rule of law sets a negative precedent that greatly harms the core values of democracy,” the judge stated.
The push to remove Surok followed a bill approved by the Magyar-led parliament that imposes term limits on the prime minister’s office.
Critics have pointed out that this legislation effectively prohibits only one individual, former Prime Minister Orbán, from participating in the next election. He is the only leader to have served multiple terms since the fall of the Berlin Wall. Orbán, often labeled a dictator by some in the West, has, surprisingly, relinquished power peacefully on two occasions.
In response to Tuesday’s events, Balázs Orbán, the former prime minister’s political director, remarked, “Nothing like this has happened in Hungary since the fall of communism in 1990.”
He continued, “It is increasingly evident that Hungary’s liberal-authoritarian prime minister aims to eliminate his political rivals, suppress any dissent against his arbitrary governance, and exploit state law enforcement as a means to achieve his objectives.” The pressing question remains: “Will free elections persist in Hungary, or will those who oppose Tisza face imprisonment?”
