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The World This Weekend

The World This Weekend

Why Hungary's election matters

12 April 2026

26 minutes

Available for 29 days

As voters go to the polls in Hungary, we unpick why so much of the world is interested in Viktor Orbán, and what his victory or defeat might mean for Europe, Russia and for conservative nationalist movements around the world. The BBC's correspondent in Budapest Nick Thorpe gives us an update on the high voter turnout. We hear from German MEP and fierce critic of Orbán, Daniel Freund, as well as from Rod Dreher, an American conservative writer and friend of US Vice President JD Vance. Plus, we assess the implications of this election with the historian Anne Applebaum and the Hungarian journalist Boris Kalnoky.