Will Hungary’s former largest opposition party, the Democratic Coalition, disintegrate in weeks?

There is huge pressure on Democratic Coalition (DK) candidates to stand down and let the Tisza Party defeat Prime Minister Orbán’s Fidesz in the constituencies. After one of their candidates stepped down, resulting in her exclusion from the party, Klára Dobrev, the party’s president, took the unexpected step of expelling her.

Democratic Coalition disintegrating?

Rita Kopping, DK’s candidate in Bács-Kiskun County’s 1st constituency (Kecskemét and its neighbourhood), announced her withdrawal last Friday. She urged voters to back the DK party list but to vote for Tisza in the constituency. Under Hungary’s electoral system, control of the government is decided in the country’s 106 single-member constituencies.

In response to Kopping’s announcement, Klára Dobrev posted on Facebook that Kopping had been blackmailed and bought off by Tisza. Kopping denied the allegations, as did Alexandra Bodrozsán, a local DK councillor in Kecskemét who has worked alongside her for years and who herself demanded exclusion from the party. The two women serve as local councillors in Kecskemét, having won their seats as members of a local civil organisation.

Attila Ara-Kovács, a former DK MEP, quit the party following the so-called Median scandal. After Median’s poll put DK below the 5% threshold for parliamentary representation, DK politicians attacked the polling firm, implying it was working for Tisza.

Dobrev announced additional stepbacks

Candidates of the opposition Democratic Coalition (DK) are stepping back in three constituencies, party leader Klára Dobrev said on Facebook on Wednesday.
Dobrev said the party, “in agreement with the candidates”, has decided to step back in the 6th and 8th districts of Budapest and the 1st district of Nógrád County. She thanked the candidates, Zoltán Komáromi, András Ternyák and Beatrix Godó for their “enormous work for the regime change.”

Dobrev, who is heading the party’s election list, said the three districts had been chosen because they are expected to have the tightest election results, and called on DK voters to support independent lawmaker Ákos Hadházy in district 6 and the Tisza candidate in Nograd. In Budapest’s 8th district, she asked voters to “follow their own judgement” in choosing between independent lawmaker Agnes Kunhalmi and the Tisza candidate. She also called on voters to cast their ballot for DK’s list.

If you missed our previous articles concerning the 2026 general elections:

• Even the company of Trump’s son “believes” that PM Orbán will lose power in April
• Assassination-style secret service plot targeted Tisza Party—but police refuse to investigate