Clearer than ever: PM Orbán wants to win the 2026 elections in the towns and villages

The latest polls show a significant Tisza lead, but PM Orbán does not seem to give up, and his plan is becoming clearer by the day. He tours villages and small towns, promising aid and saying that rural life should be backed by financial support from the government. Péter Magyar, leader of the Tisza Party, is also on a tour but does not concentrate on small settlements. Orbán’s plan can work out since, in Hungary, general elections are won in the rural electoral districts, where Fidesz always gains a considerable majority: opposition parties could not even come close to their popular support during the last four elections.

We wrote HERE that the latest poll shows a significant lead of Péter Magyar’s Tisza Party. According to the 21 Research Centre, Tisza has 500,000 more voters than Fidesz. However, that does not mean they will win since the Hungarian electoral system is not proportional like in Germany or Slovakia.

Rural constituencies decide the parliament majority; therefore, PM Orbán seems to concentrate on them. For example, this week, he visited Tiszakürt, a small village with only 1,121 inhabitants and said the government should provide more help for small settlements.

More promises for small settlements

The government will increase the salaries of municipal employees in towns with a population of less than 10,000 in two steps, the head of the Prime Minister’s Office told a regular press briefing on Thursday. Municipal staff will be given a 15 percent payrise on July 1, and another 15 percent on January 1 next year, Gulyás said.

The minister noted the complexity of the tasks of municipal officials in small towns, and said that currently their average pay was “extremely low”. As of January 1 2026, the government will extend the institution of town manager to towns with a population of 1,500 or less and increase financing for the institution, Gulyás said.

Orbán government to leave extra HUF 4,000 billion with families

In the next four years the government will leave an additional 4,000 billion forints (EUR 9.8bn) with families, Zsófia Koncz, state secretary at the culture and innovation ministry, told a regular government press briefing on Thursday.

The 2025 central budget allocates 3,754 billion forints towards assisting families, which will be increased by some 60 billion forints this year, the state secretary said. She added that in 2026 the grand total would be further increased by 550 billion forints. “We want to implement Europe’s largest tax cut scheme,” Koncz said.

She noted that Hungarian families had benefitted from over 30 “family-friendly measures” taken by the government since 2010. “In 2026 some 500,000, while in 2029 another one million mothers will be exempted from the personal income tax,” she said, adding that the government’s goal was “to make the whole economy family-friendly”.

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