Hungary’s Orban Eyes Opportunity, Risk in Rising Far-Right Party

Party leader Laszlo Toroczkai has called the rise of Our Homeland, from its founding four years ago to a party in parliament, "a miracle, but only the beginning."

"We want to save Hungary and restore its former glory," he said on the eve of the election.

It's the kind of glory, however, that makes many shiver.

Openly anti-Roma and anti-Semitic in its rhetoric, Our Homeland wants the United Nations to pay reparations for Hungary's post-World War One losses and makes plain it is open to border changes in the region, "when the international situation changes".

Experts, however, say it is not thirst for a Greater Hungary that drove six per cent of voters to Our Homeland, but the party's channelling of public frustration over COVID-19 restrictions and anti-vaxxer sentiment.

Those restrictions have been lifted, but few see Our Homeland as just a flash in the pan.

Toroczkai "wants to build himself up; he will insist that Fidesz is just a cynical party, not representing the true national interests," said Bulcsu Hunyadi, a senior analyst at the Budapest-based think-tank Political Capital.

"The party will fight against both the government and opposition as they try to establish themselves as a third force. I also expect them to push Fidesz further to the right."

Abel Bojar, senior analyst at 21 Research Centre, which specialises in social research, said the party has the potential to grow. "If a major economic crisis hits the country, some of the government's swing voters can be lured away by Our Homeland, which can be a risk for Fidesz," he told BIRN.

An election poster of the Our Homeland Party (Mi Hazank) is displayed in Budapest, Hungary, saying No to Covid restrictions. EPA-EFE/SZILARD KOSZTICSAK HUNGARY OUT ...