Hungary’s parliament elected political analyst Anna Unger on Friday to head the National Asset Recovery and Protection Office (NVVH), a flagship institution of the Tisza government’s anti-corruption drive. The NVVH, created in July, is an independent body tasked with tracing and recovering misused public assets and identifying officials who enabled abuses. It reports to parliament and can access financial and official records, investigate cases and refer them for prosecution.JOIN US ON TELEGRAMFollow our coverage of the war on the @Kyivpost_official. The motion passed with 137 votes in favour and seven against. Most MPs from the opposition Fidesz and KDNP walked out before the vote, continuing their boycott of an institution they have branded a “new ÁVH” – a reference to Hungary’s communist-era secret police. Despite Tisza’s supermajority, the selection process exposed some internal dissent. One Tisza MP, Márton Melléthei-Barna, confirmed he voted against Unger, saying he preferred fellow candidate Miklós Ligeti on professional grounds. The PhD controversy Unger, a prominent democracy researcher at ELTE University, is no stranger to political controversy, though recent criticism has also come from liberal circles. In late 2024, Unger faced a backlash over her role as an official reviewer of the doctoral dissertation of Balázs Orbán, then political director to former Prime Minister Viktor Orbán. Critics questioned why the university was facilitating a PhD for a senior official from a government that had repeatedly clashed with academic institutions.