Viktor Orbán in the context of "Fidesz"

The politics of Hungary take place in a framework of a parliamentary representative democratic republic. The prime minister is the head of government of a pluriform multi-party system, while the president is the head of state and holds a largely ceremonial position. As of 2024, The country is considered "no longer a full democracy" by the EU, and is generally said to have democratically backslid since 2010 when the Fidesz–KDNP Party Alliance led by Viktor Orbán won a two-third parliamentary supermajority and adopted a new constitution of Hungary that have both remained in place since.

Executive power is exercised by the government. Legislative power is vested in both the government and the parliament. The party system since the last elections has been dominated by the conservative Fidesz. The three larger oppositions are Democratic Coalition (DK), Momentum and Jobbik; there are also opposition parties with a small fraction in parliament (e.g. Politics Can Be Different). The judiciary is independent of the executive and the legislature.

National conservatism is a variant of conservatism that prioritizes the defense of national and cultural identity, often based on a theory of the family as a model for the state. It is oriented towards upholding national sovereignty, which includes opposing illegal immigration or immigration per se and having a strong military. National conservatism departs from economic liberalism and libertarianism and takes a more pragmatic approach to regulatory economics and protectionism. It opposes the basic precepts of enlightenment liberalism such as individualism and the universality of human rights, and in America and Europe is majoritarian populist. National-conservative parties often have roots in rural environments, contrasting with the more urban support base of liberal-conservative parties.

In Europe, national conservatives usually embrace some form of Euroscepticism. In post-communist central and eastern Europe specifically, most conservative parties since 1989 have followed a national conservative ideology. Most notable is Viktor Orbán in Hungary, who has explicitly described his Fidesz's ideology as being national conservative in character and whose government is involved in the funding and spread of national conservative institutions across Europe and the United States, such as the Danube Institute, the Mathias Corvinus Collegium, The European Conservative magazine and the National Conservatism Conference. In the United States, Trumpism can be considered a variety of national conservatism, which also gives its name to the National Conservatism Conference, organised by the Edmund Burke Foundation.

The prime minister of Hungary (Hungarian: Magyarország miniszterelnöke) is the head of government of Hungary. The prime minister and the Cabinet are collectively accountable for their policies and actions to the Parliament, to their political party and ultimately to the electorate. The current holder of the office is Viktor Orbán, leader of the Fidesz – Hungarian Civic Alliance, who has served since 29 May 2010.

According to the Hungarian Constitution, the prime minister is nominated by the president of Hungary and formally elected by the National Assembly. Constitutionally, the president is required to nominate the leader of the political party that wins a majority of seats in the National Assembly as prime minister. If there is no party with a majority, the president holds an audience with the leaders of all parties represented in the assembly and nominates the person who is most likely to command a majority in the assembly, who is then formally elected by a simple majority of the assembly. In practice, when this situation occurs, the prime minister is the leader of the party winning a plurality of votes in the election, or the leader of the senior partner in the governing coalition.

The Government of Hungary (Hungarian: Magyarország Kormánya) exercises executive power in Hungary. It is led by the Prime Minister, and is composed of various ministers. It is the principal organ of public administration. The Prime Minister (miniszterelnök) is elected by the National Assembly and serves as the head of government and exercises executive power. The Prime Minister is the leader of the party with the most seats in parliament. The Prime Minister selects Cabinet ministers and has the exclusive right to dismiss them. Cabinet nominees must appear before consultative open hearings before one or more parliamentary committees, survive a vote in the National Assembly, and be formally approved by the President. The cabinet is responsible to the parliament.

Since the fall of communism, Hungary has a multi-party system. A new Hungarian parliament was elected on 8 April 2018. This parliamentary election was the 8th since the 1990 first multi-party election. The result was a victory for Fidesz–KDNP alliance, preserving its two-thirds majority with Viktor Orbán remaining Prime Minister. It was the second election according to the new Constitution of Hungary which went into force on 1 January 2012. The new electoral law also entered into force that day. The voters elected 199 MPs instead of previous 386 lawmakers.

The Democratic Union of Hungarians in Romania (DUHR; Hungarian: Romániai Magyar Demokrata Szövetség, RMDSZ [ˈromaːnijɒji ˈmɒɟɒr ˈdɛmokrɒtɒ ˈsøvɛt͡ʃːeːɡ]; Romanian: Uniunea Democrată Maghiară din România, UDMR) is a political party in Romania which aims to represent the significant Hungarian minority of Romania.

Officially considering itself a federation of minority interests rather than a party, from the 1990 general elections onwards UDMR has had parliamentary representation in the Romanian Senate and Chamber of Deputies. From 1996 onwards, UDMR has been a junior coalition partner in several governments. It has been described as having close ties with Hungary’s right-wing, socially conservative, longtime ruling Fidesz party and, implicitly, with Prime Minister Viktor Orbán.

"There is no alternative" (TINA) is a political slogan originally arguing that liberal capitalism is the only viable system. At the turn of the 21st century the TINA rhetoric became closely tied to neoliberalism, and its traits of liberalization and marketization. Politicians used it to justify policies of economic liberalism (or fiscal conservatism) and austerity. The slogan is strongly associated with the policies and persona of Margaret Thatcher, the British prime minister and leader of the Conservative Party during the 1980s, and, as German: alternativlos, with Angela Merkel, who served as Chancellor of Germany from 2005 until 2021.

Researchers of populism generally agree that its growth since the 1990s is the result of political elites accepting certain concepts (like free market) as unalterable truths and the associated disappearance of the political discord (so-called post-politics). This created a virtual "party cartel", where the views of established parties did not differ on policies. A rise in dissatisfaction with these policies coupled with a lack of opposition to them by mainstream parties has led to the rise of new populist parties, such as Alternative for Germany and Viktor Orbán's post-2016 version of Fidesz in Hungary.

Mathias Corvinus Collegium (MCC) is Hungary's largest private educational institution located in Budapest, Hungary. Founded in 1996, it was initially directed at university students in the arts and social sciences. It serves as a student dormitory, scholarship program and a private educational institution aiming to provide academic education beyond the traditional framework to students of all ages from Hungary and abroad. By February 2023, MCC had 7000 students. In addition to its training programs, MCC operates various mobility and scholarship programs, publishes books and scientific articles, organizes international and domestic conferences and forums to promote democratic dialogues and discussions. Programs are generally free of charge.

In 2020, the MCC received an influx of Hungarian government funds and assets valued at US$1.7 billion. Due to its close ties to Viktor Orbán's government, its critics describe MCC as a "breeding ground for future Fidesz-friendly elites." The chairman of MCC's board of trustees, Balázs Orbán, helped plan the transfer in his concurrent role as state secretary in the office of Viktor Orbán's government.