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The US vice president is expected to attend an election rally in Budapest, as polls show a tight race between Viktor Orban and the opposition.
United States Vice President JD Vance is expected to visit Hungary to support veteran Prime Minister Viktor Orban in one of the toughest electoral challenges of his political career.
According to international media reports, Vance will address an election rally alongside Orban at a football stadium in Budapest on Tuesday afternoon. The visit comes at a critical moment ahead of parliamentary elections on April 12.
Last month, US President Donald Trump declared that Orban enjoys "full and total support" in a video message to the Conservative Political Action Conference (CPAC) in Budapest.
The election is seen as Orban's toughest test in nearly 40 years of political career. He faces Peter Magyar, a former member of his own Fidesz party who broke away two years ago to found the center-right Tisza party. Most polls show Tisza leading by a 10 to 20 percentage point lead, with only the pro-government Nezopont agency putting Fidesz slightly ahead.
The relationship between Orban and Trump dates back to 2016, when the Hungarian leader was the only one in the European Union to openly support Trump's candidacy. That bond has grown stronger over the years. Orban strongly supported Trump's re-election in 2024 and visited Washington in October to secure an exemption for Hungary from U.S. sanctions on Russian oil companies Rosneft and Lukoil.
According to Trump's later statements, this exemption was the result of a personal agreement with Orban, implying that a new Hungarian government would have to reapply for the same treatment.
Hungary remains one of the few EU countries that has not reduced its dependence on Russian energy. It relies on oil coming through the Druzhba pipeline and Russian gas through TurkStream. However, these supplies have faced recent problems.
Since late January, oil supplies through Druzhba have been cut off, with Orban accusing Ukraine of failing to restore the pipeline after a Russian attack on Ukrainian energy infrastructure. To avoid shortages, Hungary has been drawing on reserves and importing oil from Croatia.
Another incident was reported on Sunday, when Serbian authorities announced they had neutralized explosives near the TurkStream gas pipeline, close to the border with Hungary. The Hungarian government described the incident as a terrorist attack on the country's energy supply.
However, former intelligence sources and opposition leader Peter Magyar accused Orban of orchestrating the incident in collusion with Serbian President Aleksandar Vučić for electoral gain. These claims have not been independently confirmed.
Meanwhile, another development that has affected the campaign is the publication of private phone conversations between Hungarian Foreign Minister Peter Szijjarto and Russian officials. According to the transcripts, he regularly informed Moscow about confidential discussions at EU summits and lobbied for the removal of several Russian officials from sanctions lists. Szijjarto has defended these contacts as “normal diplomacy.”
Orban has made opposition to Ukraine and President Volodymyr Zelensky a central part of his campaign. In this context, he hopes that Vance's endorsement will sway undecided voters, presenting himself as a strong leader with international support in an uncertain period.
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