Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orbán, a key European ally of the Trump administration, faces a tough set of parliamentary elections this weekend but he now has one supporter firmly on his side after U.S. Vice-President JD Vance landed in Budapest on Tuesday to offer his support.
The BBC reports Vance is expected to join a press conference before addressing an election rally with Orbán in a football stadium on Tuesday afternoon.
The 12 April election is billed as Orbán’s toughest challenge in a political career going back almost 40 years and he sees the Western world’s aspirations being embodied by his own campaign for a return to office, as Breitbart News reported.
He has claimed four elections in a row since 2010.
The BBC report notes:
Vance and his wife Usha were welcomed by Foreign Minister Péter Szijjártó who told Hungarian media that Orbán’s friendship with President Donald Trump had created a “new golden age” in relations.
Last month, Trump said Orbán had his “complete and total support” in a video message to the Hungarian Conservative Political Action Conference (CPAC) in Budapest.
On Sunday Orbán faces Péter Magyar, a former insider in the prime minister’s Fidesz party, who broke with him two years ago to found the centre-right Tisza party.
Tisza leads Fidesz by between 10 percent and 20 percent in most polls. Only the strongly pro-government Nézőpont agency puts Fidesz narrowly ahead, the BBC report makes clear.
Orbán, 62, is hoping Vance’s visit will impress undecided Hungarian voters enough to back him once again as a strong and internationally respected leader in turbulent times.
“I’m looking forward to seeing my good friend Viktor, and we’ll talk about any number of things related to the US-Hungary relationship,” Vance told reporters as he left Washington, DC, earlier.
“Obviously, I’m sure Europe and Ukraine and all the other stuff will figure in pretty prominently.”
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