With opposition Tisza party leading in the polls, businesses ponder implications if Orban’s Fidesz party loses 16-year grip on power
4-MIN READ4-MIN ListenXiaofei Xuin ParisPublished: 7:00pm, 10 Apr 2026Travellers stepping out of the railway station at Hungary’s second-biggest city, Debrecen, are immediately greeted by a banner hanging over the street that reads “No battery, no deal”, “Debrecen belongs to Hungarians” and “Chinese, go home”.
Ahead of the elections, battery companies have increasingly become a symbol for opposition parties to criticise what they view as the Hungarian government’s poor decisions, according to a CATL representative in Debrecen.
The banner was put up by the local candidate from Jobbik, a small conservative party, formerly far-right, with little chance of winning. But it highlights how deeply Chinese business interests have become entangled with Hungarian politics, with the country attracting billions of US dollars of Chinese investment in recent years.
Some worry the Brussels-friendly Tisza party – which has been leading in opinion polls ahead of the election – would saddle them with EU red tape or seize their factories as it unpicked deals struck with Orban’s government, which has been in power since 2010. Others have urged calm, saying Tisza’s tone had been measured so far, and policies were bound to change regardless.
