In the week before the election, Hungarian think tank Republikon released a disturbing poll. A whopping 28 percent of the workforce said it wouldn’t be worth staying in Hungary if Orbán were to win the election again. A few days later, Fidesz achieved a huge election victory and the party regained a two-thirds ‘supermajority’ in parliament.
Since then, reports have appeared on social media about people leaving and Hungarian media also write about emigrating compatriots. The newspaper Népszava quoted a Hungarian real estate agent in Austria who has been approached more often by people who are leaving since the election. They cite political bitterness and the tension in Hungarian society as reasons.
András Kováts, migration researcher at the Hungarian Center for Social Sciences in Budapest, nuances the picture of a major exodus for political reasons. ‘Leaving a country after the elections is a political act, that attracts attention.’ But Hungarians have been leaving the country for some time, in total about 300,000 people are said to have emigrated in the past decade. Research shows that usually economic reasons play a role, such as better wages, better education and a higher standard of living, says Kováts. “Politics ends up lower on the list as a reason to leave.”
Talking about emigration is quite different from putting the words into action, emphasizes Kováts. “But it is certain that this election defeat is cathartic for the opposition, they have lost everything. That forces them to think about the future.’ Some Hungarians can no longer wait for change. Four of them tell why they are leaving.
Gábor (44) emigrated to Slovenia in April: ‘If you criticize the government, you are treated as an enemy.’
‘During the previous elections, I made plans to emigrate with my girlfriend. We bought an old house in the Slovenian mountains, far away from everything. We are refurbishing it to make it a sustainable guest house. We actually needed another year, but this election result made us panic.
‘I worked as a firefighter for twenty years. When Fidesz won the elections in 2010, they went after the fire brigade. Everything was cut back, anyone who spoke out was fired. I had myself transferred to the countryside. Later I worked for another two years as an ambulance worker.
‘I feel cheated. You work on the front lines of society, but when you criticize the government you are treated like an enemy. Hungary just takes and gives nothing – I don’t call that a homeland. It’s hard to leave, but it would have been harder to stay. In Hungary I had become a revolutionary or I had hung myself on a gas pipe.
‘I’m going to miss the Hungarian language, but I’m not homesick. In Slovenia I experience an openness in society that I missed in Hungary. I’m not coming back. The government has destroyed a lot, recovery is taking too long for me. All my money is in this plan, there is no going back.’
Péter (31) and Alíz (33) move to Vienna: ‘At a certain point you are just tired.’
Alíz: ‘Just before the elections, I got a job at a think tank in Vienna. Initially I wanted to commute: it’s only 2.5 hours and I can work from home a lot. I kept my fingers crossed for a good election result. On election day, Péter and I were in a village counting votes. On the way back in the car we didn’t say a word to each other for an hour and a half, we were so shocked by the result.
‘We know each other from Momentum (an opposition party, ed.). The two months before the election, I put all my free time into the campaign. We’ve done everything we could and it’s still not enough. At some point you’re just tired.’
Péter: ‘Now I work for the city council of Budapest, but I am looking for a job in Vienna. Alíz starts on May 2, I’ll come later. I had three scenarios in mind: with a small profit for Fidesz I could support an opposition parliamentarian as a policy officer, with an opposition profit I might find my dream job at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs.
‘With a two-thirds majority for Fidesz, the scenario was: emigrate. We don’t want to be in the front row when the country goes to the buttons. We are positive people. But we only have one life.’
Lilla Tokovics (24) wants to emigrate to Germany: The climate in Hungary is anti-LGBTI
‘My girlfriend and I had been thinking about emigrating for some time, but we were still in doubt. We hoped for change. The two-thirds majority completely wiped out our hopes. Now my girlfriend – she is a doctor – is going to do internships in Germany. I’m going to do a follow-up study there. Many of our friends are now trying to get away.
“Sometimes people stare at us or give us strange looks when we walk hand in hand. You can live with that if it’s just a few individuals. But the whole climate in Hungary is anti-LGBTI, which is depressing. I feel very unwelcome. The sad thing is, I’ve gotten used to it a bit.
‘Not everyone understands that we want to leave. Relatives who vote for Fidesz say to me, ‘Why leave, we live in a perfect country’. My father believes the government propaganda and says Germany is more dangerous for LGBT people because of the immigrants there. While Hungary has introduced laws discriminating against LGBT people in the past two years.
“This is a turning point. The opposition was united and they still lost. Nothing works. We have to accept that this country apparently wants Orbán. Besides, I don’t think that one election result that turns out differently will change society. At the moment I am very motivated to leave, I find it especially exciting. But the moment of departure will be difficult.’
The surnames of Gábor, Péter and Alíz are known to the editors, but have been omitted at their request. They are afraid of being harassed online as a result of this article.