Podcast: Democracy Dies In Broad Daylight –The Orbán Case

Hungary's democracy is pretty much dead. Viktor Orbán’s Fidesz Party has won a sweeping victory in national elections in April securing a de facto one-party rule.

But how does a democratic country and an EU member backslide into autocracy? Vox’s Zack Beauchamp goes on a trip to Hungary to explore how modern day democrats corrupt democracy and what was the method Viktor Orbán used to crush his opponents.

First thing was to change the rules of the game, he explains. Orbán rewrote the constitution to control the judiciary. Then he seized control of the media by creating pro-government outlets and supporting his loyalists to buy broadcasters, papers and others. 

The last move was using the economic crisis to crush independent economic power so that no one could finance an opposition news outlet or civil society group. The entire middle class was incapacitated and Orbán benefited from this crisis. Fidesz cut government aid, blocked tenders for specific circles and harassed and sent auditors on them. This concentrated the power in the hands of loyalists.

A system was created that looks democratic from the outside but isn’t really. 

No doubt that the Washington Post’s famous slogan “Democracy Dies in Darkness” is true, but nowadays “Democracy Dies in Daylight” is true, too.