Cathrin Kahlweit in conversation with Zsófia Bán and Zoltán Ádám

HUNGARY: LAST CALL FOR THE ELECTORAL AUTOCRACY?

On the evening of April 12th Viktor Orbán will know whether he won the parliamentary elections in Hungary for the fifth time in a row. Although the polls show his main challenger Péter Magyar in the lead, many foreign experts and Hungarians themselves are sceptical: Orbán has changed the country into an electoral autocracy which makes it extremely hard to beat his party, Fidesz, legally. And then: legality is not a moral issue that is on the top of Orbán’s mind. His campaign is based on threats, money and fake news, his opponents speak of blackmail and pressure. Will the Hungarian voters end the era of the long time prime minister? And how are the chances of the country to return to the rule of law, given that Fidesz changed the texture of society, the juridical system, media and science to stay in power?

Zsófia Bán, appraised writer, scholar and critic, and  Zoltán Ádám,  political economist at ELTE university with an expertise in regime change and authoritarian populism will talk about the elections and their consequences with Cathrin Kahlweit, specialist on Eastern Europe and long-time Hungary correspondent.

Zsófia Bán, Hungarian writer, essayist, and literary and art critic

Zoltán Ádám,political economist with an interest in regime change, democratic backsliding and authoritarian populism; senior research fellow at ELTE Centre for Social Sciences in Budapest, in Sep. 2025 – Feb. 2026 fellow at WIKO Berlin

Cathrin Kahlweit, langjährige SZ-Korrespondentin, Publizistin und Moderatorin