🇭🇺 🇺🇦It was Viktor #Orbán who decided that the #Ukrainian “gold convoy” had to be raided - the action was unfounded and illegal. Even the timing of the raid was determined by the government, to be used in the campaign - reports this investigation #Hungary telex.hu/belfold/2026...

Emigration from Hungary reached a new record in 2024 and remained close to 40,000 in 2025. The number of Hungarians leaving the country in the last two years was more than double the pre-pandemic level, amounting to almost 0.5% of the total population each year. #demography #Hungary #migration

Citizenship is the right to have rights. blogs.loc.gov/law/2026/05/...

More here: www.loc.gov/item/global-...

And what happens if people naturalise and then give up their other citizenship? Statelessness?

As promised, Péter Magyar, the new Prime Minister of #Hungary, has just completed his first foreign visit, choosing #Poland as his destination 🇭🇺 🇵🇱 This morning, I discussed the most important conclusions of this visit at @tvpworld.bsky.social www.youtube.com/watch?v=rZbV...

Orban’s Seven Laws for Hungary are etched in glass (bringing to my mind Apple’s famous 1984 advert.) And you will not be disappointed: of course there is a globe with Greater Hungary. telex.hu/english/2026...

Telex.hu not only conveys the opulence with which the Orbanists surrounded themselves, but conjures images of them as they made key decisions affecting the lives of all Hungarians: “...it was here that…”

First-rate writing from @telexhu.bsky.social (link to English). The open Bible next to the shredder! As it turns out, Karmelita was not just “an ordinary place of work” as claimed by Fideszniks. telex.hu/english/2026...

"After the election, an analysis carried out by the Roma for Democracy Foundation looked at voting patterns in areas with significant Roma populations and found that Roma votes had appeared to play a role in flipping multiple seats from Fidesz to Tisza." Excellent article.

Sweden: Parliament Approves New Citizenship Law Requiring Language and Knowledge Tests (from The Library of Congress) www.loc.gov/item/global-...

Absolutely insane amounts of 💰 for minimal work have been paid to foreign pundits, "journalists", "researchers" and Orbán propagandists by Fidesz-aligned institutions. Unsurprisingly, Rod Dreher also appears multiple times in recently released files and has been generously remunerated. 1/

"Estonian actors will read out their conversations"

Whenever I listen to @kimlanelaw.bsky.social, I learn something new or think about something in a new way. For instance, now I can’t stop thinking about the implications of Orban privatizing the defense sector into the hands of his oligarch friends. paulkrugman.substack.com/p/kim-lane-s...

Just before the Hungarian elections, some voters were registered as a “national minority” without their knowledge or consent, resulting in forfeiture of their right to cast a party list vote. Hungarian Civil Liberties Union looking at possibly “several thousand” cases. lakmusz.hu/2026/04/23/t...

Electoral reform declared preferences meet revealed ones: many supporters of Slovakia's small parties agree with raising the threshold from 5% to 7%.* Incl KDH's, which failed the 5% one in 2016 and 2020 and got 7% in the same poll. SaS (39% pro) got 8%, D (28% pro) got 6%.

Huge congrats to Bulgarian Helsinki Committee & Krassi Kanev on today's win in Strasbourg. The Court found #Bulgaria violated European Convention (art 8). Secret surveillance needs real oversight. Rubber-stamp judicial review & nominal safeguards won’t cut it. Strong addition to the Court’s case-law

Notwithstanding Orban's carefully cultivated image as an anti-communist, he repeatedly blocked access to communist-era archives. Peter Magyar has said he will open them.

In NY? Check out the exhibit of artwork by Austrian Romani Auschwitz survivor Ceija Stojka (d. 2013). Dr. Ethel Brooks, chair of @romarights.bsky.social, walks you through it in this PBS Newshour interview. 🧵 www.pbs.org/newshour/sho...

fcknz.cz/brussels-rom... 🇪🇺 Roma Week 2026 is underway in Brussels, where debates are focusing on whether the next EU budget will really meet the needs of Romani people, how to strengthen their participation, and how to tackle antigypsyism.

How TISZA won everything, everywhere, all at once: "Fidesz lost support everywhere [and] turnout surged across the country." Tisza didn't just dominate the cities, but got 40-50% across most of the country. "When we break down this analysis by settlement type, we see near uniform Fidesz losses."

Here’s a look at what this morning’s Russian papers are saying about the Hungarian election and the defeat of Viktor Orbán. Plus, reports of “layoffs, production cuts” in Russia. #ReadingRussia

"Five Roma representatives are heading to the Hungarian parliament. Four for TISZA, one for FIDESZ. This is the highest number of Roma deputies in modern Hungarian history."

OSCE Election Observation Press conference live stream, Monday, 13 April 2026, 15:00 CET odihr.osce.org/node/661804

More about the documentary, “The Price of a Vote,” from @gabrielagreilinger.com. My favorite quote: “I’m telling you, the Sicilians come here for training.” hungarianobserver.substack.com/p/the-price-...

PSA: “Vote for Fidesz or we will send your children to state care run by pedophiles” is not buying a vote, it is extorting it. The phrase “vote buying” obscures violence and coercion. This documentary (Eng subtitles) does a good job of exposing it. 1/ www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZCwQ...

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🛢️Hungary’s oil company, the MOL Group just approved €600M+ in dividends, timed days before elections. A huge chunk flows not to small investors, but to government-linked foundations tied to Fidesz elites. 2/1

The other 2022 thing that doesn’t apply now: Russia invaded Ukraine a few weeks before the elections, & Orban used his media monopoly to portray Marki-Zay as an untested, unsteady hand. W/the economy in steady decline, Hungarians may be ready to pick the devil they don’t know over the one they do.

The "My Homeland Movement" courts Hungarian voters by organizing paramilitary marches to threaten Romani communities. www.errc.org/news/stoking...

Best—and most entertaining—concise summary of the final days before the 12th.

In today’s news: Peter Magyar posted an audio clip that he says proves that two Fidesz candidates from Debrecen, acting in league with the head of the “National Roma Self-Government”, are organizing election fraud. Denials ensued. Also, it is International Roma Day.

No German National Minority Rep?

Really informative article by the excellent Hungarian elections expert Roland Ferkovics. In English and, below, Czech. (Reminder: if you follow Central Europe, follow @romeacz.bsky.social ) romea.cz/en/opinion/r...

More evidence Fidesz is making a hard push to acquire a “Roma Representative” through the dysfunctional and discredited “minority self-government” system. (+more people talking to journalists, they see the tide turning) The problems with the "minority self-government" system are legion.

"A trial session is set for May 4."

Great @financialtimes.com interview of @veghzsuzsanna.bsky.social by @gideonrachman.bsky.social about the Hungarian elections. www.ft.com/content/7309...

excellent piece by the remarkable David Baer who has deep knowledge of Hungary - and brings the receipts.

FWIW, both Senators are members of the U.S. Helsinki Commission, the body that engages on OSCE matters for Congress. Since 2013, when Ukraine held the 1-yr rotating OSCE chair, Hungary has used every OSCE ministerial to parrot and amplify Russian positions. www.foreign.senate.gov/press/dem/re...

As testimony to @szabolcspanyi.bsky.social ’s effectiveness as an investigative reporter, Orban is going all out to prevent him from doing his job before the April 12 elections. Now’s a great time to catch up on his reports. Read them. Read them all.

Orban’s Chief of Staff Gergely Gulyás has announced an espionage investigation into investigative journalist @szabolcspanyi.bsky.social, whose unimpeachable reporting has repeatedly revealed information damaging to Orban’s regime. This will be to the everlasting shame of Gulyás.

Gergely Gulyás, Orbán’s chief of staff, announced that the Hungarian government will file charges against Szabolcs Panyi for espionage – outrageous accusations against an investigative journalist who has been working on uncovering Fidesz's ties to Russia and Russian influence in 🇭🇺 politics.

Concerns over Tomio Okamura are shared by many, not least the 250K protestors that took to the streets to defend Czech democracy. Former politician & renowned economist, Ivan Pilip said “In my view, his nomination is the worst event since 1989. He is a hateful racist…” www.errc.org/news/huge-cr...

Plus, a Romani teacher in Pecs faces up to a year in prison for his role in organizing a Pride Parade. His case has been suspended, pending Con Ct review, but not dismissed. www.errc.org/news/romani-...

Election expert Roland Ferkovics on Romani voters and Romani representation in the Hungarian elections. Roma are the largest minority in Hungary, roughly 800,000+ people. romea.cz/en/world/rol...

Something I wonder about regarding the undecided: 1) Women are slightly overrepresented. 2) Orbán traditionally performs stronger among women. 3) Tisza is less popular among female voters than male voters. Who will be better able to mobilise them? 12/

Dear reader, if you do not know who Matt Schlapp is, please look him up. If you are Orban, a man whose government is facing the consequences of a very particular scandal and simultaneously looking for endorsements, Schlapp is an interesting choice.

Explaining the poor turn out from the U.S. Congress, Matt Schlapp said in Budapest: “We only invite the best congressmen. So, the reason why there’s not a lot of congressmen here is because, unfortunately, there aren’t a lot of great members.” “There aren’t a lot of great members.”

The “ethnic lists” (“minority self-government” system) are not that consequential for the 4/12 elections, but someday it will be worth re-visiting how a system supported across the pol.spectrum in HU & sincerely designed to enhance minority representation turned out to be an unmitigated failure.

I concur. Excellent, easy to understand as explained here, especially winner/loser compensation.