The leader of the Hungarian opposition party Tisza, Péter Magyar, has accused Prime Minister Viktor Orbán and his inner circle of orchestrating a large-scale operation by Hungarian intelligence services and police. The alleged aim of the operation was to destroy or disable the opposition party’s IT systems ahead of the parliamentary elections on April 12.
Magyar made these claims on social media and in public statements, citing an investigative report by the outlet Direkt36. According to him, intelligence services acting under the direction of Orbán and his family conducted searches and interrogations of two IT specialists linked to the Tisza party and also attempted to gain access to their servers and networks. The operation allegedly involved the use of anonymous tip-offs — including false claims about the storage of child sexual abuse material — as a pretext for pressure.
“Hungarian intelligence services, acting on the orders of Viktor Orbán and his family, targeted Tisza as the party was preparing for a change of power. I call this case ‘Orbángate’ — it resembles the worst abuses of the communist era and is more serious than the Watergate scandal that brought down President Nixon,” Magyar stated.
He promised that if Tisza wins the election, everyone involved — both the politicians who gave the orders and the heads of the intelligence services — will face Hungarian justice.
The scandal erupted just weeks before the parliamentary elections, in which, according to polls, Magyar’s Tisza party is leading ahead of Orbán’s Fidesz. The opposition leader described the events as the “end” for the current authorities and accused the government of employing methods akin to Soviet or Putinist practices.
Orbán’s government, for its part, did not comment on the accusations directly, but had previously alleged “foreign interference” via Tisza’s IT specialists, linking them to the “IT Army of Ukraine” and other external actors. Hungary’s National Security Committee even declassified part of an intelligence report purportedly confirming such contacts.
The scandal has sharply intensified an already tense election campaign in Hungary. Analysts believe Magyar’s accusations could significantly influence voter sentiment among an electorate that has already shown willingness for a change of power after 16 years of Orbán’s rule.