During the election campaign, the
Druzhba pipeline crisis happened. Hungary and Slovakia accused the Ukrainian authorities of deliberately delaying repairs for political reasons. Zelenskyy said he would prefer not to repair the Druzhba oil pipeline, stating that his position is "shared with European leaders." In February 2026,
Telex published an article detailing the
Samsung SDI battery factory's
occupational safety deficiencies in
Göd, such as personnel breathing toxic,
carcinogenic heavy metals, sometimes hundreds of times above legal limits. Further reports showed how the factory emitted tons of toxic
NMP into the air, and a mixture of toxic substances coming out of its vents. Orbán claimed that the opposition was lying to mislead the people, and that pollution from the factory exceeding legal limits was never measured. Parliamentary State Secretary Csaba Latorcai stated that the government strictly penalised the factory when pollution occurred inside the plant, and no pollution was detected that would have had any impact outside the factory. On 6 March, two
cash transport vehicles with Ukrainian license plates were intercepted by the
Counter Terrorism Centre (TEK) near Budapest. The transported money and gold were seized by the (NAV), and its seven workers were detained, later deported. During their detention, they were denied legal assistance and consular support. On the same day, the NAV started criminal proceedings on suspicion of
money laundering in the case. The government claimed that the legal status of the seized assets could not be verified, while
Oschadbank and
Raiffeisen claimed that this was a documented, legal transfer of funds from Austria to
Kyiv. Shipments like this had been done on a weekly basis, with the cooperation of the police and NAV. Ukraine stated that this operation was hostage-taking and robbery. Lóránt Horváth, the attorney of the detained workers, said that – contrary to what the official report stated – only the TEK was present at the interception, the NAV only arrived later. He said that TEK agents shouted contradictory commands, while holding the workers at gunpoint. He also said that they were handcuffed for 29 hours. The commander was denied access to his
diabetic medication; instead, he was injected with an unknown substance against his will, which resulted in him ending up in a life-threatening condition and losing consciousness.
The Guardian claimed that the substance was a
relaxant, meant to make him more "talkative" during the interrogation. Starting March, Orbán announced his nationwide election rallies that would be open to everyone, unlike his past events. Telex observed a coordinated group of dozens of people who regularly appeared at these rallies. They reacted quickly when dissenting opinions were expressed: when people chanted "Filthy Fidesz" (), they started pro-Fidesz chants, and when someone held up a critical banner, they held up government-supporting ones. They also stood in front of or surrounded protesters, with the goal of intimidation. During later rallies, they ripped out protesters' banners and pushed them, and physically blocked the street leading to the event's location. During a 15 March demonstration in memory of the
Hungarian Revolution of 1848, Magyar accused Orbán of "treason" and inviting Russian agents to interfere in the election to Fidesz–KDNP advantage. During the same demonstration, individuals close to Fidesz – including minors – ran into the crowd and held up a massive
Ukrainian flag. Photographers appeared on a nearby balcony and within the crowd who documented the incident, after which the individuals and photographers left. According to
444, this was coordinated by members of the Fidesz-affiliated Digital Democracy Development Agency. Numerous pro-government media outlets quickly reported on it, stating that this was expected from a Tisza event, while the Hungarian flag dominated Fidesz's parade. Fidesz politicians also posted about it on social media; these posts were liked by thousands of evidently fake profiles. The
Conservative Political Action Conference (CPAC) Hungary meeting had been connected to the campaign. On 21 March 2026,
The Washington Post reported that Russia's
Foreign Intelligence Service (SVR) proposed staging a
false flag assassination attempt on Orbán in an attempt to improve his odds to win the election, according to an SVR internal report that was obtained and authenticated by a European intelligence service. On 26 March,
Politico Europe reported that a Russian bot network had made social media posts promoting a narrative that Orbán would face an assassination attempt and presenting
Ukraine and Zelenskyy as a threat to Orbán. During the same period,
The Insider released a recording of a phone call between foreign ministers
Péter Szijjártó and
Sergey Lavrov from August 2024, where Lavrov reminded him to ask for Gulbahor Ismailova, the sister of
Alisher Usmanov, to be removed from the list of persons under European Union sanctions. In another call, he allegedly told Lavrov "I am always at your disposal." Szijjártó also appeared to offer to send Lavrov a document about Ukraine's European Union accession. Poland and Ireland referred to the apparent leaked audio as ″repulsive″ and ″sinister″. On 26 March, the documentary film
The Price of the Vote was released in Hungary detailing a six-month investigation by independent filmmakers and reporters, which alleged that Fidesz was engaging in a campaign of mass
voter intimidation in poor rural or small-town communities prior to the election that have been Fidesz strongholds since 2010. In the film, it was alleged that local Fidesz mayors in such communities offer cash, work, firewood, transport to polling stations, access to medicine, and
synthetic drugs in exchange for "correct" votes. In the film, it was also stated that an opposition candidate had dropped his bid to office after a child protection office in a Fidesz-ran area allegedly threatened to take his children into care. Throughout the campaign, there were several attacks against Magyar and Tisza Party, such as accusations of being a puppet of Brussels and Kyiv portrayed by comic book, publishing of parts of Magyar's sexual life, or candidates with same name as official Tisza Party candidates in the same electoral districts were all topics of the campaign. On 6 April, Serbian police found approximately of explosives at the
TurkStream gas pipeline. This incident was quickly used by Orbán and Szijjártó in order to blame Ukraine for alleged attempts to cut Russian energy supplies to Hungary and Slovakia. Magyar quickly replied that this was a
false flag operation, in order to delay the election due to Fidesz's insufficient polling results. Serbian intelligence chief Đuro Jovanić said that Ukraine was not involved in the explosives plot. US Vice President
JD Vance visited Hungary on 7 April, holding a press conference and attending a rally with Orbán. On 10 April, the () was organised by
Róbert Puzsér's () movement at
Heroes' Square, financed by donations. By 17:30, the square was full, with the crowd stretching all the way to
Kodály körönd, chanting "Filthy Fidesz" () and "Russians, go home!" (; from the
1956 revolution). Among the fifty performers were , , and
Azahriah, with each of them performing one of their government-critical songs. Speeches were given by Puzsér, Bence Szabó, and Szilveszter Pálinkás .
Series of interviews The final weeks of the campaign were characterized by a series of interviews published in independent media, with various representatives of the state sphere seeking to expose the nepotism, corruption and dysfunctionality of the state run by Fidesz. On 25 March, the interview of Bence Szabó, a police officer in the unit investigating child pornography crimes, was published, which was recorded in February. The
Constitution Protection Office (AH) pressured the (NNI) to search through two men's homes – 38-year-old "Buddha" and 19-year-old "Gundalf" –, after receiving an anonymous tip suspecting child pornography. They were IT specialists of the Tisza Party, and no trace of child pornography was found on their seized devices; instead, hundreds of screenshots were found detailing a political conspiracy operation aimed at bringing Tisza down. In the interview, Szabó detailed how the story looked from the perspective of police officers, including the unusual intelligence agency interventions and the recruitment operation against Tisza. He said that the AH took the data from them without the necessary paperwork, and he confirmed that Magyar's ex-girlfriend, Evelin Vogel, was also a member of the team working against Tisza. Szabó claimed that a secret service group was obviously behind the operation against Tisza. After the
Direkt36 article's publication, the police searched Szabó's apartment, interrogated him, and initiated proceedings against him for abuse of office. At the same time as Szabó was charged,
Direkt36 published his interview.
Government propaganda portrayed the two IT specialists as Ukrainian spies, while oppositional figures declared Gundalf and Szabó heroes. According to the screenshots found, the former IT specialist of Tisza, Dániel "Gundalf" Hrabóczki, was contacted by V. E. (who later appears as "Henry"), who tried to persuade him into granting him access to Tisza's IT infrastructure in order to bring that down, but Gundalf declined and reported this to his colleague. They had a belt with a hidden camera, with the intention of busting the recruiter, but police seized it and charged them with unlawful use of military equipment. On 28 March, the government posted a video of the AH's hearing of Gundalf after the raid. The government and Orbán claimed that he admitted to having been recruited by Ukrainians, despite the fact that he made no such statement. On the 30th, Gundalf gave an interview to
444, saying that he intentionally misled the agents during the AH's hearing. He justified this by claiming he received messages from an unknown "Theo", who said the AH was interfering with the proceedings against them and the AH itself organised the whole case, aligning with what Szabó said. According to defence minister
Kristóf Szalay-Bobrovniczky, the statement was made with political intent, and he wrote that "the Hungarian Defence Forces is an institution independent of party politics, and will remain so." He later denied that there was a Chadian mission, even though Szalay-Bobrovniczky himself had made several statements about it years earlier and the
legislature had voted on it. On 7 April, Pálinkás claimed in another interview that Szalay-Bobrovniczky made three offers to keep him quiet, which he all declined: a four-year military assignment in New York, appointing him as the commander of a newly created military organisation, and work in filmmaking. == Conduct ==