Orban making overtures to Simion made sense from one perspective only: to gain an illiberal ally in the EU Council. Orban chose to make this incredibly costly gamble, essentially betraying the Transylvanian voters his party spent decades cultivating. And he lost. This is likely consequential.
András Tóth-Czifra
💥Viktor Orbán made one of his biggest mistakes by praising anti-Hungarian far-right candidate George Simion.
🇭🇺 In Hungary, he hurt his “nationalist” credibility, angering many right-wing voters.
🇷🇴 In Romania, the Orbán-loyal Hungarian diaspora voted most heavily against Simion.
👎And Simion lost.
