Fidesz’s Historic Defeat in the April 2026 Election

Ágnes Urbán and Péter Krekó argue that the government’s propaganda was overestimated; it primarily mobilised opposition rather than converting voters. A presidential-pardon scandal and repeated war-related fear-mongering exhausted public receptivity, while economic concerns dominated choices. AI-generated videos—such as a fabricated call between Ursula von der Leien and Magyar—were widely rejected, with most voters expressing strong disapproval.

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Lakmusz found Russian disinformation did not achieve wide circulation, despite early media reports. Expert András Rácz and leaked Lavrov-Szijjártó calls raised public awareness before the vote. A late-March poll showed a majority of respondents naming Russian interference as the main external threat, and the slogan “Russians go home” became a rallying cry for change.

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Meta and Google halted political advertising in autumn 2025 after the EU adopted a transparency regulation. Ágnes Urbán said the ban “pulled the rug out” from Fidesz’s ad-spending, limiting the party’s ability to amplify state-aligned messages. The loss of paid-online reach coincided with a measurable decline in the visibility of government propaganda.

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Within weeks of the vote, TV2 dismissed senior staff, cancelled its flagship news programme, and Index’s editor-in-chief resigned after publishing a fabricated tax-plan document. The Megafon influencer network sharply reduced Facebook videos. Prime Minister Magyar called public service media a “lie factory” and ordered an immediate review of funding, including ending state advertising to the KESMA network of nearly 500 outlets.

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Magyar pledged new media laws and an independent regulator, while the EU framed the reforms as a rule-of-law test case. Krekó maintains that the prior informational autocracy created a “virtual reality” shaping voter beliefs; Urbán notes fear-based messaging cannot be intensified indefinitely. Analysts dispute the relative influence of economic versus informational factors and differ on the actual reach of Russian disinformation, with some deeming it minimal and others highlighting its politicisation.

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• “It may be, after all, that we overestimated the role of the propaganda media a bit.” — Ágnes Urbán, Director, Mérték Media Monitor

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• “The system we used to call an informational autocracy successfully created a virtual reality in previous elections, where beliefs radically different from the facts became the basis of political decisions.” — Péter Krekó, Associate Professor, ELTE PPK

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• “If the political elite accepts that the job of journalism is to criticise and to keep a distance from politics, then almost any public service media can work well,” — Péter Magyar, post-inaugural cabinet statement

The Straits Times