The Drift Watch

Hungary – Viktor Orbán

Hungary's democratic backsliding under Prime Minister Viktor Orbán has become one of the clearest examples of electoral authoritarianism in a European Union member state. After rising to power in 2010, Orbán and his Fidesz party leveraged their parliamentary supermajority to systematically dismantle liberal democratic institutions while preserving the external appearance of democratic governance.

Orbán refers to his style of governance as an "illiberal democracy," in which majority rule is prioritized over constitutional checks and pluralism. Hungary remains nominally democratic — elections are held and opposition parties exist — but the playing field has been so thoroughly skewed that true competition and institutional independence have collapsed.

Timeline of Key Events

  • 2010: Fidesz wins a two-thirds supermajority in parliament, allowing Orbán to amend the constitution without opposition input.
  • 2011–2012: Orbán pushes through a new constitution and over 300 cardinal laws, many of which limit judicial review, media freedom, and local government autonomy.
  • 2013: Government creates the Central European Press and Media Foundation (KESMA), consolidating over 500 media outlets into a pro-government conglomerate.
  • 2018–2020: Electoral laws are changed to favor Fidesz; universities and NGOs face increasing government control and harassment.
  • 2020: COVID-19 pandemic used to grant Orbán open-ended emergency powers with minimal parliamentary oversight.

Methods of Democratic Erosion

  • Media Suppression

    Government or ruling party control over broadcast, print, and digital media to shape public narrative and suppress dissent.

  • Judicial Subordination

    Undermining judicial independence by appointing loyal judges or purging dissenting ones.

  • Electoral Manipulation

    Interference with democratic elections through voter suppression, gerrymandering, or control over electoral commissions.

  • Emergency Powers Abuse

    Exploiting crises or security threats to consolidate power through decrees, censorship, or suspension of civil liberties.

  • Civil Society Suppression

    The deliberate weakening or restriction of independent civic groups, nonprofits, unions, and grassroots organizations that hold power to account or mobilize public dissent.

Impact on Institutions

  • Judiciary: Politicized, weakened, and restructured to defer to executive power.
  • Media: Transformed into a pro-government echo chamber that marginalizes dissent.
  • Elections: Technically competitive but structurally rigged through law, media control, and funding imbalances.
  • Parliament: Reduced to a rubber-stamp institution under Fidesz control.
  • Local Government: Disempowered through fiscal restructuring and centralization.

References

Kim Lane Scheppele, The Fragility of an Independent Judiciary: Lessons from Hungary, University of Chicago Law Review, 2013.


Freedom House, Nations in Transit: Hungary, various years (https://freedomhouse.org/report/nations-transit/2022/hungary)


Mounk, Yascha. The People vs. Democracy. Harvard University Press, 2018.


EIU Democracy Index, Hungary Country Report, 2022.


The New York Times, How Viktor Orbán Bends Hungarian Society to His Will, Dec. 2018 (https://www.nytimes.com/2018/12/03/world/europe/hungary-orban.html)

Reporters Without Borders, Hungary Media Profile, 2023 (https://rsf.org/en/hungary)

Human Rights Watch, Hungary: Democracy Under Threat, 2020 (https://www.hrw.org/news/2020/10/22/hungary-democracy-under-threat)