The election campaign in Hungary offers scandals almost daily, with each new case more tasteless than the previous one. But in front of the latest of them, all the others simply pale. Many observers define it as the “worst political scandal since the changes in 1989/90“, others even speak of “return to dictatorship and communist times“.
Infiltrating the opposition party?
What is it about? Last week it became known that the Hungarian Office for the Protection of the Constitution (Alkotmanyvedelmi Hivatal, AH for short), one of the five secret services in the country, had implanted its agents in the opposition party “Tisza“ in order to thwart its participation in the elections or at least significantly reduce its chances of winning. The secret service apparently tried to hire IT specialists to administer the party's IT system in order to gain access to internal party information and then use it for manipulation.
The action began in July 2025. At that time it was already clear that “Tisza“, which is the favorite to win the parliamentary elections on April 12 and is leading by a significant margin over the “Fidesz“ party of Prime Minister Viktor Orbán, poses a real threat to his rule.
There is no evidence that the Hungarian Prime Minister personally ordered the operation, but it is unlikely that he was unaware of it, because the Office for the Protection of the Constitution is directly subordinate to the Prime Minister and is controlled by Orbán's chief of staff, Antal Rogán. Moreover, the Hungarian government did not refute the revelations, but presented the actions of the secret services as an attempt to thwart espionage by Ukraine. However, what exactly this espionage attempt consisted of was not specified.
Fictional threat
It all started with an article on the Hungarian investigative portal Direkt36 on March 24 of this year, which reported on the alleged action by the Office for the Protection of the Constitution. A day later, the journalistic team, known in Hungary for its excellent investigations, published an hour-and-a-half-long video interview on YouTube on the subject. In it, Bence Szabó, a senior official of the Hungarian National Investigation Service (NNI), gave details of the case.
Szabó was in charge of the NNI's investigations in the department for combating child pornography on the Internet. Shortly before the video was published, he left his job and was removed from his post in the meantime. According to Szabó's account, in July 2025, his department came under pressure from the Hungarian Office for the Protection of the Constitution, which itself does not have the authority to investigate an alleged case of child pornography and to confiscate computer hardware. Two suspects were targeted. However, it quickly became clear that they had nothing to do with the child pornography case under investigation. The two in question were computer experts who administered the IT system of the “Tisa“ party.
Leak of personal data into the public domain
The actions against the two were apparently caused by the failed attempt of the secret services to recruit them for actions against “Tisa“. This required urgent action by the authorities, who feared that their action could be revealed. And the authorities apparently wanted to obtain the data of the opposition party at all costs. And indeed - the hardware of the two specialists was confiscated, the secret services copied the data - apparently without permission.
In the fall of 2025, another strange incident occurred: about 200,000 personal data of “Tisa“ supporters were leaked into the public domain. At the time, Orbán's government and the Fidesz party claimed that Ukraine was to blame, as the opposition party's computer application was developed by Ukrainian IT experts. Now it turns out that things were probably different - namely, that it was a manipulation carried out by Orbán's power apparatus.
Politically motivated operation?
Bence Szabo tells in great detail about the operation that lasted for months. In the video, the investigator testifies that he informed his superiors that the actions of the Office for the Protection of the Constitution were politically motivated, after which he was faced with reluctance or outright inaction. Instead, he was ordered to find compromising materials against the unjustly suspected IT experts of “Tisa“, which he refused to do.
Szabo then addressed the media: “I have sworn an oath to serve my country, not a certain group of people, for example a party“, he says in the video.
“Fidesz“ is not ready to step down from power
The video has been viewed by over two and a half million people so far. And no wonder: it is an extremely serious case of abuse of power. Direkt36 co-founder and investigative journalist András Pető, who has investigated the case, told DW that all this raises “serious questions about the independence and party neutrality of the Hungarian authorities and the secret services“.
Political analyst Miklós Szúkosz compares the end of the dictatorship in 1989/90 with today's situation - with the difference that then the rulers were not so tightly attached to power and did not use the secret services against the opposition. In the spring of 2026, the situation is different: “Fidesz“ "is unwilling to part with power and does not respect democratic rules," he says.
Several government politicians have presented the case, which has since been dubbed the "Hungarian Watergate," as a counterintelligence operation against Ukraine. One of the two defendants has been called a "Ukrainian spy," but without providing any evidence. Over the weekend, Orbán's government even posted a video of the 19-year-old's interrogation on its Facebook page, an unprecedented move. Bence Szabó himself has been charged with treason and high treason. The government has also filed a complaint against a journalist, also accused of being a "Ukrainian spy." This is investigative journalist Szabolcs Pani, who in recent weeks has published a number of reports about secret Russian-Hungarian ties. Pani described the accusations as “absurd“.
Mysterious threat
Hungarians critical of the government are praising Bence Szabo as a “hero“. The opposition leader and chairman of the “Tisza“ party, Péter Magyar, even threatened Orbán's government that “if even a single hair falls from his head, he will incur the wrath of the people.“ Szabo himself said in another interview that he does not consider himself a hero.
Prime Minister Orbán has not yet spoken directly about the case. In a video, he simply called on Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky to “bring his agents home”, without specifying who he was referring to. On Sunday (March 29, 2026), Orban made a cryptic threat during a campaign event, again using a military term: "I have a few more rounds in the magazine that I can use."
Author: Keno Ferzek