US Vice President JD Vance has traveled to Budapest to show support for Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orbán ahead of a crucial parliamentary election widely seen as the toughest challenge of Orbán’s long political career.
Vance is expected to appear alongside Orbán at a joint press conference before addressing an election rally in a football stadium in the Hungarian capital. The visit comes just days before voters head to the polls on April 12 in an election that could reshape Hungary’s political landscape.
Orbán, who has dominated Hungarian politics for more than a decade, has won four consecutive elections since returning to power in 2010. However, current opinion polls suggest the veteran leader faces a serious challenge from opposition figure Péter Magyar.
Magyar, a former insider in Orbán’s ruling Fidesz party, broke away two years ago to form the center-right Tisza party. Several polls place Tisza between 10% and 20% ahead of Fidesz, although a pro-government polling agency suggests Orbán’s party may still hold a narrow lead.
Hungarian officials welcomed Vance’s visit as a sign of strong relations between the two countries under US President Donald Trump. Foreign Minister Péter Szijjártó said Orbán’s relationship with Trump had ushered in what he described as a “new golden age” in US-Hungary ties.
Trump himself recently voiced strong support for the Hungarian leader in a video message to the Conservative Political Action Conference held in Budapest, saying Orbán had his “complete and total support.”
The alliance between the two leaders dates back to 2016, when Orbán became the first European Union leader to publicly support Trump during his first presidential campaign. Orbán also strongly backed Trump’s successful 2024 re-election bid.
During a visit to Washington last October, Orbán secured a special exemption from US sanctions targeting Russian energy companies Rosneft and Lukoil. Trump later described the exemption as a personal agreement between the two leaders, suggesting any future Hungarian government might need to renegotiate it.
Energy policy has become a key issue in the election campaign. Hungary remains heavily dependent on Russian oil and gas supplies, relying on the Druzhba oil pipeline and the TurkStream gas pipeline.
However, energy deliveries have recently faced disruptions. Oil shipments through the Druzhba pipeline have been halted since late January after a Russian attack damaged oil infrastructure in western Ukraine. Orbán has blamed Ukraine for failing to restore the pipeline quickly enough.
Hungary has been forced to release strategic fuel reserves and import oil through an alternative pipeline from Croatia to avoid shortages.
Further concerns emerged when Serbian authorities announced that explosives had been discovered near the TurkStream gas pipeline close to the Hungarian border. Hungarian government officials described the incident as a potential terror attack targeting the country’s energy supply.
Opposition leader Péter Magyar and some former intelligence officials have accused Orbán’s government of staging the incident with assistance from Serbian President Aleksandar Vučić in order to boost political support ahead of the election. The Hungarian government has rejected those claims.
Orbán has also made criticism of Ukraine and its president, Volodymyr Zelensky, a central theme of his campaign, positioning himself as a defender of Hungary’s national interests amid the ongoing war in the region.
Meanwhile, the government has faced additional pressure following the leak of private phone conversations between Foreign Minister Szijjártó and senior Russian officials. According to reports, the transcripts suggest that Hungarian officials shared details about discussions at European Union meetings and sought to lobby for the removal of certain Russian individuals from sanctions lists.
Szijjártó has dismissed the criticism, describing the communications as part of “normal diplomacy.”
With just days remaining before voters head to the polls, analysts say the outcome could determine whether Orbán extends his more than decade-long rule or faces the most significant political upset of his career.
