Viktor Orbán calls for 'national resistance' against successor’s 'arbitrary rule' in first post-election rally in Romania

A new government and immediate constraints

Hungary’s April parliamentary election ended 16 years of Fidesz government, bringing Péter Magyar and his centre-right Tisza party to power. Within weeks, the new administration pushed through constitutional changes and laws that sharply narrow any route back to office for Viktor Orbán. The reforms cap the premiership at two lifetime terms and limit parliamentary mandates to three terms. Orbán has already served five stints as prime minister, so the new rules block another bid. The three-term MP ceiling also threatens many veteran Fidesz lawmakers who have held seats for decades. Simultaneously, prosecutors launched an investigation into suspected illegal campaign financing, and on 21 July they seized Fidesz’s computer servers.

A call to 'national resistance'

On 25 July, Orbán addressed thousands of supporters in Baile Tusnad, a Romanian spa town in a Hungarian-speaking region where he has delivered summer keynote speeches for years. It was his first major public appearance since the election defeat. He accused the government of seeking to eliminate all opposition.

The new government wants to eliminate any opposition.

He told the crowd that Fidesz must reinvent itself as a vehicle for national resistance.

Fidesz must now function completely differently and serve the national resistance.

Orbán described the party’s future role as a service centre, an incubator and a nursery for like-minded groups. He noted wryly that he was "invited for the first time in 16 years as an opposition politician." The 2014 address in the same town, where he proclaimed the "illiberal state", served as a historical backdrop for his combative return.

An autumn collapse prediction

Orbán forecast that the new government would run aground within months. He predicted an energy crisis in autumn, driven by shortages and high prices, that would overwhelm Magyar’s administration. Hundreds of thousands of Tisza voters would then turn away from the party and rise up against what he repeatedly called its "arbitrary rule" (Willkürherrschaft).

In the autumn, the government will fail to master the crisis triggered by energy shortages and high energy prices.

He claimed the government lacked competence and would alienate its own supporters, creating an opening for Fidesz-backed groups of "freedom loving people".

Investigations and the road ahead

The server seizure on 21 July added legal pressure. Fidesz’s computer equipment was confiscated as part of an inquiry into alleged illegal campaign financing. The action came amid a wider probe by Hungarian prosecutors into whether Fidesz improperly financed its election campaign. Orbán did not mention the seizure directly, but his broader accusation that state institutions were being used to silence the opposition pointed to the investigation. At a party congress in June, Orbán was reaffirmed as Fidesz chairman, a platform he now intends to use to support a network of groups opposed to Magyar’s rule. His combative speech in Baile Tusnad signals an opposition posture that is openly antagonistic, setting the stage for a turbulent period in Hungarian politics.