Poland, Portugal, Romania – Elections Strengthen FIDESZ’s International Footing

Losing Romanian presidential candidate, George Simion

The results of Sunday’s European elections have brought relief in Hungary’s conservative “headquarters,” and will potentially strengthen Viktor Orbán’s hand on the European scene. A number of near misses have threatened a significantly more complicated political environment for the current Hungarian government, but things have turned out favorably for conservatives. Let us see why Sunday’s news from Portugal, Poland, and Romania is good news for the FIDESZ government.

Portugal

Not much has changed as far as instability and uncertainty is concerned in Portugal, but still, there were a number of developments that are promising from a Hungarian perspective. The current  AD/PSD-CDS centrist coalition has managed to retain its majority with 32%, but will continue being a lame duck in a minority government. Its European People’s Party overlords, led by Manfred Weber in the European Parliament, will not allow them to form a coalition with Viktor Orbán’s political allies, the conservatives of Chega. Still, them retaining their majority is considerably better news for the Hungarian conservatives than a socialist government in Lisbon.

The big news though is the stellar performance of Chega, Orbán’s Patriots for Europe allies. André Ventura’s sovereigntists have only missed out on the second spot by half a percent with 22.5%. This is a huge improvement, which means governance in Portugal will be nigh impossible should the Socialists or AD choose to try to ignore them.

Poland

Pollsters have massively overestimated the far-left’s candidate, Warsaw Mayor Rafal Trzaskowski’s popularity during the run-up to the presidential elections, some of them putting him above the 40% threshold. The numbers were so far off that suspicions of poll-manipulation have surfaced among opinion makers and the media. In fact, the Civic Coalition’s liberal front-runner only managed to eke out a victory with 1.5% over the runner-up, conservative Karol Nawrocki.

The result means that Viktor Orbán’s conservative allies in Poland have a very good chance of snatching victory in the second round. Furthermore, the candidate of third-place Konfederacja, Slawomir Mentzen, has collected some 15% of the vote, which is much better than initially expected. If he decides to endorse Nawrocki in the second round, the conservative PiS candidate will likely win the presidency and can thus form an effective check against the alleged antidemocratic excesses of the Tusk government.

I would like to congratulate @NicusorDanRO on his victory in the Romanian presidential elections. I look forward to working together on strengthening the cooperation between Hungary and Romania, to the benefit of our peoples.

— Orbán Viktor (@PM_ViktorOrban) May 19, 2025

Romania

And finally Romania, where paradoxically Hungarians were not rooting for the quasi-sovereigntist, Eurosceptic candidate, but for the liberal presidential one, Nicusor Dan. No one really expects a spectacular improvement as far as the Hungarian minority’s rights, numbering over a million, are concerned, but the alternative was menacing. His opponent, George Simion’s track record was that of ultra-nationalism, extremist anti-Hungarian rhetoric, hence most Hungarians in Romania have opted for the lesser evil, endorsed by their largest party, RMDSZ.

The problem though is that most people believe that the presidential elections were seriously compromised when earlier this year the results were simply canceled, and their winning candidate, ultra-nationalist AUR politician Calin Georgescu, was banned from running on charges that appeared very much bogus. This will no doubt taint Dan’s future presidency and will linger over Romania’s political landscape for years to come. Nevertheless, Romanian-Hungarians have dodged a dangerous bullet in the form of a Simion presidency. Hence the political establishment in Budapest can now express a sigh of relief knowing that the presidential palace will be occupied by someone endorsed by the Hungarian minority in Transylvania, and not a candidate of a party whose activists have trampled on Hungarian war-graves.

Featured Image: Wikipedia