BUDAPEST: Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban, gearing up for a tough election in April, said on Friday he would launch a “national petition” seeking backing for his policy of rejecting EU funding for neighboring Ukraine as it fights a Russian invasion.
With the war showing no sign of ending and Hungary’s economy stagnating, Orban has framed the election as a choice between war and peace, portraying Ukraine as undeserving of support and his government as the only safeguard against conflict and economic spillover.
Since last year, election billboards for Orban’s Fidesz party have sought to associate opposition leader Peter Magyar with Brussels and Ukraine, suggesting that voting for his Tisza party means voting for tanks and war.
Orban’s campaign primarily targets rural voters and echoes his past anti-migrant campaigns as most polls show Fidesz trailing Tisza.
Details of the “petition” were unclear, but it appeared to amount to an informal referendum, in the form of a ballot paper sent to citizens.
