Fidesz has made child protection one of its key policy concerns, but has a shaky record on the issue: In early 2024, Hungary’s President Katalin Novák had to resign after the press discovered she had pardoned a man who covered up a sexual abuse scandal at a children’s home.
The issue shook Fidesz’s core base, and reactivated the opposition, which began to coalesce around Péter Magyar, a former Fidesz member who has barnstormed onto the political scene and whose new party, Tisza, is now polling ahead of Orbán, posing a real threat to the Hungarian strongman.
The move against the Pride march is one of the strongest examples yet of Fidesz’s efforts to snare marginalized extremist voters in order to reach a majority. If, for example, the party could attract the 6 percent of voters currently saying they will opt for the far-right Mi Hazánk party, that would be enough to catch up to Magyar’s Tisza.
The majority of Hungarian voters, though, wouldn’t support a ban on Pride. According to a poll, only 36 percent of voters would support banning the march, while 56 percent would keep it open. Budapest’s liberal attitude is striking, with 78 percent of the capital’s residents wanting to keep Pride public.
Budapest’s liberal-leaning mayor Gergely Karácsony told POLITICO: “Whatever anyone says, there will be Pride in Budapest this June. It may even be bigger than ever before.
“When the problems in a country multiply, the smear campaigns of those in power are intensified. But if we accept that the law in this country no longer protects citizens from power, then we will lose everything we care about,” Karácsony added.
