HUNGARY

Until the Russian invasion of Ukraine, Hungary’s general election campaign was dominated by such ruling party preoccupations as “traditional values” and protecting children from “LGBT propaganda”.

Neither Russia nor Ukraine featured in the slogans of Viktor Orbán’s ruling Fidesz party or the opposition parties, which have united to dislodge him.

But the war, the ensuing refugee exodus and the reshaping of Europe’s geopolitical calculations have dramatically altered the political context ahead of Hungary’s 3 April vote.

Warmly received at the Kremlin just three weeks before the invasion, Orbán has had to condemn it, publicly distance himself from a decade-long friendship with Vladimir Putin and join Hungary’s EU partners in imposing