(Adnkronos) – “We don’t pay.” Less than seven weeks before the elections in Hungary, billboards line the streets of Budapest showing an AI-generated image of Volodymyr Zelensky alongside the President of the European Commission, Ursula von der Leyen, and Manfred Weber, President of the European People’s Party.
The latter point with their fingers to the open hand of the Ukrainian president, in the act of asking for war funding. Anti-Ukraine messages are at the heart of Viktor Orbán’s campaign. He has led the country since 2010, but polls show a significant decline in voter preferences, benefiting the opposition party – though still conservative – of Peter Magyar, a former close collaborator of Orban who later left Fidesz, in open conflict with the prime minister.
Orban centers his election campaign on discrediting Ukraine, as if Budapest’s troubles were caused by Kyiv or by the policies of those who support it. The strategy is to convince voters that the biggest threat to the country is not failing social services, the rising cost of living, or economic stagnation, but rather the neighboring country. With the help of the populist government, billboards showing Volodymyr Zelensky and EU officials with outstretched hands cover Hungary. The message to Brussels “we will not pay!” echoes in radio, television, and social media ads.
“In fact, Ukraine is painted as the main enemy,” said Zsuzsanna Végh, an analyst at the German Marshall Fund. “This is not just about Ukraine itself, but falls within the standard strategy of the ruling party, which is to mobilize its electorate by generating fear in society.” In 2018, when Orbán was running for his third consecutive term as prime minister, he and his Fidesz party sought to fuel fears about immigration. In 2022, as voters went to the polls five weeks after Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine, Orbán spread the unfounded claim that the opposition would send Hungarian troops to fight in the war.
As Orbán faces an unprecedented challenge from a prominent former member of his own party, Péter Magyar, the strategy appears to have taken an aggressive turn. “We are certainly seeing a significant escalation,” Végh said. “Beyond rhetoric, artificial intelligence is being widely used to spread false messages and images to reinforce the government’s message.”
