Outgoing Hungarian prime minister Viktor Orbán sent a letter to members of the so-called Digital Civic Circles (DPK), launched during the 2026 election campaign, striking an unexpectedly candid tone regarding the electoral defeat of Fidesz–KDNP and what the future holds for both the party and its supporters.

Orbán opened by stating that Fidesz–KDNP suffered an ‘earthquake-like defeat’ on 12 April, adding that ‘there is no point in sugar-coating it.’ Highlighting the ‘hard work’ invested in the campaign, he went on to thank DPK members for standing by him over the past months. ‘Your commitment will always be remembered with respect in Hungarian political history,’ he stressed.

Orbán announced the launch of the Digital Civic Circles during his annual speech at the Bálványos Summer Free University in Băile Tușnad (Tusnádfürdő), Transylvania, Romania, last summer, with the aim of countering the Tisza Party’s dominance on social media.

Similarly to the original civic circles launched by Orbán after Fidesz’s 2002 electoral defeat, the initiative is also intended to strengthen cohesion among the party’s core voter base. That earlier network was later regarded as a key component of Fidesz’s landslide victory in 2010, much as the ‘Tisza islands’ (Tisza szigetek) contributed significantly to Péter Magyar and the Tisza Party securing a supermajority in the 12 April election.

‘Orbán went on to state that Hungary is now “entering an era of arbitrariness and overreach”’

According to estimates, the number of DPKs reached between 100 and 200, with a total membership of around 200,000 nationwide. Following Fidesz–KDNP’s defeat, speculation emerged about their future role.

In his letter, Orbán reiterated the need for the reorganization and renewal of the ‘Hungarian right’, arguing that this process should not originate ‘from the party itself’, but from ‘smaller and larger circles where people believe in the national idea’ and ‘understand that electoral defeat does not diminish the value of the work we have carried out in the past 16 years.’ He argued that DPKs represent such platforms and therefore ‘play a key role in reorganizing’ the political community he referred to as the ‘national side’.

Orbán went on to state that Hungary is now ‘entering an era of arbitrariness and overreach’, pointing to what he described as the incoming government’s attacks on the President of the Republic and other public officials, which, he added, aim to ‘dismantle constitutional safeguards’.

‘For us, a period of unity, joint thinking, and reconstruction now begins,’ Orbán concluded, reiterating that the DPK network will be one of the key pillars of renewal. He added that he is counting on its members in the process of ‘rethinking strategy, shaping opinion, and acting together,’ while also inviting their proposals.

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