Hungary’s election campaign has been rocked by allegations that a state intelligence service tried to infiltrate the main opposition party to disrupt its electoral chances. The Constitution Protection Office (Alkotmányvédelmi Hivatal), one of Hungary’s five intelligence agencies, is accused of attempting to recruit IT staff who maintained the Tisza Party’s systems to gain access to internal data and undermine the party’s election bid.
Investigative outlet Direkt36 published the story on March 24 and followed it with a 90-minute video interview the next day featuring Bence Szabó, a former senior investigator in the National Bureau of Investigation’s (NNI) cybercrime unit. Szabó, who resigned shortly before the interview and has since been dismissed, says the operation began in July 2025. By then, polls showed the Tisza Party leading Prime Minister Viktor Orbán’s Fidesz and poised to win the April 12 parliamentary vote.
Szabó alleges the Constitution Protection Office pressured his unit to open an investigation into alleged child pornography involving two technicians. Those individuals, he says, were actually responsible for the Tisza Party’s IT infrastructure. The office, which is not authorized to conduct standalone criminal probes, purportedly sought seizures of the technicians’ hardware. Szabó contends the child-pornography claim was fabricated to justify taking devices and that agents copied data from the seized equipment without authorization.
Last autumn, the Tisza Party’s mobile app was found to have exposed personal data of roughly 200,000 supporters. The government and Fidesz blamed Ukraine because the app was developed by Ukrainian IT specialists. Szabó’s testimony suggests the data breach may instead have been orchestrated by elements linked to Orbán’s apparatus.
Szabó says he raised concerns internally, arguing the probe was politically motivated, but his warnings were ignored. He describes defying orders to fabricate incriminating material and ultimately going public because he could not find anyone within the state willing to act. His allegations and the interview have drawn wide attention: the video has been viewed by millions and been labeled by some as “Hungary’s Watergate.”
Journalists and opposition figures have condemned the revelations as an abuse of state power and a threat to democratic norms. Direkt36 co-founder András Pethő said the reporting raises “serious questions about the independent, politically neutral work of the Hungarian government agencies and intelligence services.” Political scientist Miklós Sukosd compared the episode to tactics not seen since the end of the Communist-era state party, asserting that Fidesz appears unwilling to cede power and is willing to bend democratic rules.
The government has not denied the reporting but framed the events as counter-espionage against Ukraine, without providing specific evidence. Several ministers and pro-government voices described one of the accused technicians as a Ukrainian spy. The administration even published a video of a 19-year-old’s interrogation by the Constitution Protection Office. Meanwhile, Szabó has been charged with misconduct in public office.
Investigative journalist Szabolcs Panyi, who reported on alleged secret ties between the Hungarian government and Russia, has also been accused by authorities of espionage and characterized as a Ukrainian agent. Panyi called the charges “absurd.”
Opposition leader and Tisza candidate Péter Magyar has rallied in Szabó’s defense, warning the government against harming him. Szabó, however, has downplayed any hero image, saying he acted from an oath to serve the country rather than a political faction.
Prime Minister Viktor Orbán has not addressed the case directly. He accused Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy of recalling agents in a video statement but did not identify targets. At a campaign event on March 29, Orbán made a veiled, militaristic remark: “I still have a few bullets left in the magazine that I can use,” a comment critics interpreted as menacing.
The scandal has intensified scrutiny of Hungary’s intelligence services and raised broader concerns about state interference in the electoral process as the country approaches a critical parliamentary vote.
This article was originally published in German.