This article is part of TPM Cafe, TPM’s home for opinion and news analysis.

On Sunday, April 12, Hungarians will go to the polls in an election that will decide the future of their country and the illiberal state that Prime Minister Viktor Orbán — Europe’s longest-serving head of state and a role model for far-right authoritarians in Europe and America alike — has built over the past 16 years in power.

After winning a two-thirds majority in 2010, the Orbán government systematically dismantled democratic institutions and reshaped the electoral system to make future victories for the prime minister’s party, Fidesz, more likely. It rewrote the constitution with little input from society, experts, or opposition parties; packed public institutions, including the constitutional court, with loyalists; severely restricted media freedom; challenged academic freedom; and undermined minority rights, particularly LGBTQ rights. In addition, the Orbán government placed Fidesz loyalists in top positions across public and state companies, leading some observers to describe it as a “mafia state.” Orbán’s political allies, including aspiring authoritarians in the U.S., who see his governance as a model, paid close attention. President Donald Trump’s rapid moves during his second term to attack the administrative state, civic society and the media, including pushing for allies to control news organizations perceived as unfriendly, have drawn frequent comparisons to Orbán’s playbook. 

Due to Orbán’s state capture and erosion of democratic institutins, VDEM, a prominent democracy watchdog, has classified Hungary as an electoral autocracy since its 2020 report,........

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