Drugs, bribery, and intimidation: Documentary exposes Orbán’s pressure on voters in Hungary

The documentary, based on a six-month investigation, was screened at a cinema in Budapest, the capital of Hungary. The investigation uncovered widespread and numerous cases of vote-buying and voter intimidation.

The campaign by Orbán’s government is targeting 53 of Hungary’s 106 individual electoral districts. Altogether, they cover up to 600,000 voters — around 10% of the expected turnout of 6 million.

It is reported that in villages and small towns, Orbán’s supporters offer residents money, jobs, firewood, and transportation to polling stations, and in some cases even medicine and drugs. The condition is simple: vote for the ruling Fidesz party.

For example, in one village, a mayor elected from Fidesz also serves as the district doctor for 32 settlements in the area. Residents say they are threatened with being denied prescriptions if they do not vote for the party. Similarly, firewood is only distributed to those willing to support Fidesz.

Cash payments are also widely used. Voters are typically offered 50,000–60,000 forints per vote. However, there is an even more serious scenario: Orbán’s supporters allegedly buy votes with a cheap synthetic drug known as "smoky," which is widespread in poorer villages.

"In the beginning, we thought the key piece of this process is vote-buying. But then we realised that the money is just the icing on the cake. The key word here is dependency and vulnerability," said one of the filmmakers, Áron Tímár.

Despite such cases being documented in dozens of districts, the government has not provided a full response. Only one official, Minister of Public Administration Tibor Navracsics, gave a brief comment on the allegations.

"If there is any wrongdoing just let the ministry of interior do its job," he said, refusing to elaborate further.

Dirty and disgraceful: What is known about Hungary’s election campaign

The current election campaign in Hungary is unfolding amid major scandals and claims of external interference. According to media reports, Orbán is already preparing a plan in case of defeat to make it as difficult as possible for a new government to operate.

The reason is that Orbán could lose power for the first time in 16 years. The opposition Tisza party has strengthened its lead over the ruling coalition, which could secure it a constitutional majority. Tisza’s advantage stands at at least 16%.

On the other hand, polling does not fully reflect the real picture — the advantage of Tisza is visible nationwide, but elections are decided in the same single-member districts where Fidesz has deeply entrenched networks of influence in villages and small towns, which it allegedly controls through intimidation and vote-buying.

Against the backdrop of a possible defeat, Orbán is resorting to dirty tactics. These include numerous provocations against the opposition, as well as against Ukraine, which the pro-Russian Hungarian prime minister has effectively cast as an enemy.

For example, on March 21, the American newspaper The Washington Post reported that Russia’s foreign intelligence service had developed a plan to stage an assassination attempt on Orbán in order to alter the course of a campaign he is losing. Orbán’s camp reacted hysterically, effectively confirming the media reports.

It is also known that the Kremlin is assisting Orbán in the election. For this reason, the leader of Hungary’s opposition Tisza party, Péter Magyar, publicly accused Orbán of inviting agents of Russia’s GRU military intelligence to Hungary.