Hungary’s election campaign has been shaken by claims that a state intelligence service attempted to infiltrate the main opposition to weaken its electoral prospects. Investigative outlet Direkt36 reported that the Constitution Protection Office (Alkotmányvédelmi Hivatal), one of Hungary’s five intelligence agencies, sought to recruit IT staff who maintained the Tisza Party’s systems in order to access internal data and disrupt the party’s campaign.
The story, published on March 24 and followed by a lengthy video interview the next day, centers on 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, at a time when polls showed the Tisza Party leading Prime Minister Viktor Orbán’s Fidesz ahead of the April 12 parliamentary vote.
According to Szabó, officials from the Constitution Protection Office pressured his unit to open a probe into alleged child pornography involving two technicians — individuals who, Szabó says, were responsible for the Tisza Party’s IT infrastructure. Because the constitution protection agency is not authorized to carry out standalone criminal investigations, he contends the child-pornography allegation was fabricated to justify seizing the technicians’ devices. Szabó alleges agents then copied data from the confiscated hardware without proper authorization.
Last autumn the Tisza Party’s mobile app was found to have exposed the personal data of roughly 200,000 supporters. The government and Fidesz blamed Ukrainian developers for that breach; Szabó’s testimony raises the possibility that elements linked to Orbán’s apparatus may have been behind or exploited the leak.
Szabó says he raised objections inside the state apparatus, arguing the probe was politically motivated, and resisted orders to manufacture incriminating evidence. When he found no internal remedy, he went public. The 90-minute interview and related reporting have drawn millions of views and widespread attention, with some commentators likening the revelations to a Hungarian equivalent of Watergate.
Journalists and opposition leaders have condemned the allegations as an abuse of state power and a threat to democratic processes. Direkt36 co-founder András Pethő said the reporting raises serious questions about the political neutrality of Hungary’s government agencies and intelligence services. Political scientist Miklós Sukosd compared the tactics described to methods not seen since the end of the Communist-era party state, arguing that Fidesz appears unwilling to cede power and prepared to bend democratic rules.
The government has not directly denied the reporting but has framed the events as counter-espionage against Ukraine, without producing detailed evidence. Several ministers and pro-government commentators labeled one of the accused technicians a Ukrainian spy, and authorities published video of a 19-year-old’s interrogation by the Constitution Protection Office. Meanwhile, Szabó faces charges of misconduct in public office.
Investigative journalist Szabolcs Panyi, who has reported on alleged secret ties between the Hungarian government and Russia, has also been accused by authorities of espionage and described as a Ukrainian agent; Panyi has dismissed the charges as absurd.
Opposition leader and Tisza candidate Péter Magyar has defended Szabó and warned the government against reprisals. Szabó himself has rejected any portrayal of himself as a partisan hero, saying he acted out of an oath to serve the country rather than to help a political faction.
Prime Minister Viktor Orbán has not addressed the case in detail. He has accused Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy in a video statement of recalling agents, without naming targets, and at a campaign event on March 29 made a veiled, militaristic remark — “I still have a few bullets left in the magazine that I can use” — which critics interpreted as threatening.
The revelations have intensified scrutiny of Hungary’s intelligence services and stoked concerns about potential state interference in the upcoming parliamentary vote, raising broader questions about the integrity of the electoral process.