Hungary scraps campaign spending limits ahead of 2026 vote

BUDAPEST: Hungarian lawmakers voted in favour on Tuesday of a law that ends limits on campaign spending, a measure critics say will allow Prime Minister Viktor Orban to reap unlimited contributions from his allies in elections set for 2026.

Since Orban´s return to power in 2010, Hungary´s governing coalition has frequently modified the country´s electoral system, prompting opposition groups to accuse it of changing democratic rules to their benefit.

Ahead of elections scheduled for spring 2026, recent surveys show Orban´s nationalist Fidesz party lagging behind the TISZA party of former government insider Peter Magyar, now a prominent opposition leader.

Spending limits until now were set at five million forints (12,380 euros) per candidate per campaign, a measure Orban introduced in 2013. The new amendment passed the 199-seat National Assembly on Tuesday with 133 votes in favour and 46 against.

The governing coalition argued that spending limits had become obsolete as “campaigning is increasingly taking place in the digital and online space, where national regulations cannot be enforced”.

The government also said scrapping the spending caps would level the playing field, claiming that in the 2022 elections, the opposition benefited from “foreign influence” via contributions that were not accounted for.

Several NGOs criticised the amendment. “Oligarchs who have enriched themselves with public money will be able to contribute unlimited funds as private individuals to the ruling parties´ campaigns,” the K-monitor anti-corruption group said before the vote.