Alexandra Fehér
Hungary’s Largest Political Scandal in the Orbán Era
How the main political narratives of Fidesz collapsed like a house of cards and why it won’t affect the party’s popularity
AIES Comment 2024/1
14.03.2024 / Europäische Union
In February 2024, Hungary was shaken by an outrageous scandal on giving a presidential pardon to a paedophile accomplice. This was one of the largest political scandals in contemporary Hungary and it has erupted around Katalin Novák, the president of Hungary. It rarely happens that Fidesz cannot control the political discourse and was forced to dismiss two high-profile politicians. In a country where political mistakes have little or no effect on the elites, such events bear a significant value. What has happened exactly, and why was this scandal different than the previous ones?