Name: Who will come out on top in Hungary's highly contested upcoming election? | DW News
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To Hungary now, where lawmakers voted on Tuesday to extend a state of emergency by 180 days.

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That means a general election, roughly scheduled for April, will happen under the strict legal conditions that have allowed incumbent Prime Minister Viktor Orban to cement his nationalist politics in recent years.

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Corruption charges against Putin ally Orban, as well as cost of living concerns have seen his support drop behind the opposition Tisa party.

Budapest, Hungary's capital, has often been where the political mood shifts, with young people in particular driving change.

I'd really like to live in a country where as a student we can live and fulfill ourselves freely, where a government would act to increase acceptance and educate the public a bit.

It would also be great if the country wasn't being robbed.

Health care, public transport, not to mention education.

It's easy to find people in the city who are disillusioned with the current system.

I want to feel that this country exists to be there for us and not for the top 10,000.

The things that happen, I want to trust that they are happening for me and the people around me.

Prime Minister Viktor Orban has ruled Hungary for the last 15 years with a supermajority of 2/3 of parliament.

But now Peter Magyar and his center right to SU party are leading in many opinion polls.

He could win the election and form a government.

But to make real change, Magyar would have to win or build a super majority.

That's because Orban's government introduced a new constitution in 2011, which makes it very hard to change what it calls cardinal laws.

Two thirds of parliamentary votes are needed for changes to things like election law, some media regulations and how judges are appointed.

Now Orban's government has this 2/3 majority in Parliament and made changes in many of these areas.

If the governing party loses the election but the winner doesn't have that majority, Orban's loss would remain.

So how could Peter Modyar score a meaningful win?

Some polls suggest as many as 29% are undecided right now.

Analysts say this would likely drop significantly by election day.

To win them over, Magyar will have to persuade them he can solve their economic problems.

On the one hand, their assessment of the situation would point to voting for the opposition.

They're suffering from the difficult economic climate.

They also feel that prices are high, wages are low and the country is stagnating.

But a significant portion of them, those who can even decide who would be the better leader, Orban or Maya rather, choose Orban for them.

The idea hasn't come up yet that there could be an alternative.

We are headed to rural Hungary, where support for Orban's Fides party has traditionally been very strong.

Here in Pustovac, about two thirds voted for Fides in the last election.

Families and older people form a key part of Orban's support, but some are no longer so sure.

Yutka says she had hoped things would get better under Fides.

I'm undecided, unfortunately, because not everything happened in a way that they promised.

She's weighing up whether to retire from her job, a car parts supplier.

Unfortunately, the salary is very low and the pension won't be much higher either.

Peter Magyar has been touring smaller towns and rural regions like Pustovac for months, trying to persuade voters like Yutka that he can offer a better future on the world stage.

If Orban gets US and Russian presidents to meet in Budapest for Ukraine talks, that could boost his image and his polls.

His party has published this AI generated video of him scoring against Peter Mojar.

In six months, voters will decide whether to give him a red card or award him another goal.

This report by Fanny Fashar, you saw her there in the report, and

Funny, six months ahead of the election, Hungary is deeply polarized.

The future of this country, the future of Hungary is at stake in the upcoming elections, which is to take place in six months from now.

And the question do people here in Hungary want more of Prime Minister Viktor Orban, who's been governing for more than a decade, for the past 15 years, or can they imagine an alternative?

And at least looking at current poll numbers, very much looks like they can, because for the very first time in over a decade, the governing Fidest parties actually trailing behind in many polls with regard to the biggest opposition party, the Centre Right Tisa Party, which existed a few years ago, but

was just registered for the European parliamentary elections last year.

So we're speaking about a very, very young party and we are speaking about very different visions for this country.

When you talk to people who support either Fides, the Fidest Party, or the Center Right Tisa Party, or all the other parties that exist as well.

And I think the main difference here, also speaking about European Union, is that while Prime Minister Viktor Orban tries to portray the European Union that Hungary is, is a part of as.

As a bloc that wants to dictate what Hungary is supposed to do.

And as a result, in the view of the government, is the sovereignty of Hungary may be at stake.

The tis the part is saying we need a strong eu.

We actually have to have a vision together to be able to make crucial foreign decisions.

Just a reminder to the viewer, I'm in Hungary, just a few hundred kilometers away is a war going on in Ukraine.

So certainly foreign policy plays a role when people will make up their minds next year.

There are a lot of undecided voters, in fact, and

one of the biggest questions that people propose, in fact, regardless who they support, is the economy.

Just how much more is going to be chipped away in their purse with regard to their income when it comes to inflation.

So there's a lot at stake and however, there's still six months to go as a result.

We just have to see how things are going to move on.

Certainly the this proposed controversial summit by US President Donald Trump, which is not taking place at least in the immediate future in Hungary, put the Hungarian government back to center stage.

But we just really have to see what the communication is moving forward, both by the government and by opposition parties.

DW senior international correspondent Fanny Fasharan, Budapest thank you so much for your reporting.