The NGO that cried fraud

Budapest Times

10-04-2025

Dániel Hegedüs's latest essay for the German Marshall Fund marks a dramatic escalation. For years, their narrative was that Hungary's elections were 'unfair.' Now, without evidence, he suggests that the 2026 election might be stolen outright—with fabricated results and a rigged outcome. This isn't analysis. It's a premeditated excuse for failure.
In 2022, Hungary held its elections under full international scrutiny. A complete OSCE-ODIHR mission monitored the vote. Nearly 20,000 independent ballot counters were deployed. The process was transparent. The result was clear. And not even the most critical observers could dispute it. Everything was done by the book.
So why float this now? Because the 2022 election delivered a result that foreign-funded NGOs, Brussels ideologues, and Washington-aligned networks could not accept. Despite media pressure, activist campaigning, and billions of forints in foreign financial support for the opposition, the Hungarian electorate stood firm. Their attempt failed. The State Audit Office later confirmed that the opposition campaign was illegally financed through a foreign network, including U.S.-linked NGOs. It was the largest financing scandal in Hungary's democratic history—not an allegation, but a documented fact.
Since then, the funding streams have shifted—but not the agenda. With U.S. money drying up, Brussels has stepped in. The European Commission's CERV program is now the main vehicle for influence. According to the European Court of Auditors, more than €7 billion in NGO contracts were awarded across the EU between 2021 and 2023. Forty percent of that went to just 30 groups. These aren't neutral actors—they're politically engaged organizations, many active in Hungary.
These groups don't represent civil society. They represent Brussels. They push ideological campaigns, file lawsuits against elected governments, and lobby against national sovereignty—funded almost entirely by EU taxpayers. And they do so without real accountability.
Even the Court of Auditors found it's nearly impossible to trace how much these groups receive or what they're paid to do. Hungary's formal information requests were brushed aside with bureaucratic excuses. In any national government, that level of opacity would be a scandal. In Brussels, it's standard.
The same people who couldn't win in 2022 now want to pre-write the narrative for 2026. Demanding 'robust international observation' is not about fairness. It's a pretext. If the result isn't what they want, the accusation of fraud is already waiting. Ironically, that is what truly undermines trust in democratic institutions.
The Sovereignty Protection Law targets foreign political financing—not election observers. Hungary has never blocked international missions, and it won't start now.
Hungary's future will be decided by its voters—not by foreign-funded NGOs or Brussels insiders.
Every Hungarian election since 2010 has been called the 'last chance for democracy'—yet voters continue to let their voices be heard, and democratic institutions continue to function. The real threat isn't inside Hungary. It's the unaccountable network trying to discredit the next vote before it even happens.