“They want to take our country away. Opposition parties in the service of foreign interests want to come to power. They want to give power to opposition politicians in the pay of foreigners so that they can demolish the fence and accept from the hand of Brussels the compulsory settlement quota, and in this way turn Hungary into a country of immigrants in order to serve the financial and power interests of their clients.”

“Tell everyone that they want to settle the first ten thousand migrants in Hungary yet this year. Tell everyone that they have made a pact with everyone from (DK chairman Ferenc) Gyurcsány to (Jobbik chairman Gábor) Vona. Tell everyone that immigration is the blight that slowly but surely devours our homeland. Tell everyone that we have to support migrants. If the settlement (of migrants) takes place, in vain will there be economic growth, there will be nothing with which to support families or to pay pensions. Tell everyone that mass migration threatens the everyday security to which we are accustomed. With mass migration comes a greater threat of terror. It is as clear as day that where there is mass migration, women are threatened with violent attacks.”

– Viktor Orbán in his final speech of the campaign, April 6th, 2018

The following is a rough English translation of the campaign speech delivered by Fidesz chairman Viktor Orbán in Székesfehérvâr on Friday, April 6th. You can watch the speech in the original Hungarian here:

Ladies and Gentlemen, people of Székesfehérvár!

It’s good to see all of you again here at home.  This is officially known as the conclusion of a campaign. But the truth is that we have no intention of ending the campaign today. To the contrary, we want to launch a final “go for it.”  We have to do this because elections are always decided at the end. In vain did we work splendidly over the past weeks if we neglect the end.  Regardless of what happened so far in the campaign, and regardless of what our chances are, the election will be determined in 48 hours on the first Sunday.

My favorite political philosopher, a certain Rocky Balboa, said “the end is always at the end.”  He’s right. Let’s listen to him.

People of Székesfehérvár!

This is our umpteenth election campaign. I remember elections when on Saturday we were in the majority, on Monday we were still in the majority, but on Sunday there weren’t enough of us.  This cost Hungary eight years, at the end of which we could be happy with much sweat to get back on our feet. This is the lesson we got in 2002. The clever learn at the expense of others, the stupid at their own expense, and the hopeless not even then. But we are not at all a hopeless case, as proven by the fact that we concluding our second consecutive governing cycle.

And we can even pause here for a moment.  One would think that an election campaign is completely pointless for a governing party.  For what could be more truthful and real than the governance itself, its results, or reality itself.  We might think that those who have well handled the problems of the country should not have to campaign, for the facts speak for themselves.

My experience of nearly thirty years shows otherwise.  My experience is that the community of national citizens always likes to look to the future, even maniacally so. What happened, has already happened.  He prepares for what awaits him, and what he personally expects from the leader.

Dear friends, respected people of Székesfehérvár!

We never sold you a pig in a poke.  We’re not doing this now either.  In the future we will govern in a manner that well represents the nation’s appetite for freedom, struggles for independence, and we will boldly represent what makes Hungarians Hungarian.

We undertake such politics that ensures a prestigious place among the nations for the Hungarians, and which ensures our nation’s place among the most deserving. That is what we undertake.

Dear friends!

The reason we’ve come together this afternoon is to discuss how we’re going to win on Sunday. Because on Sunday we are going to win.  We have won many great battles together over the past several years.  With appropriate modesty, this entitles us to declare that on Sunday we will once again win.  We have even won battles which, at first glance, many said could not be won.  They appeared unwinnable because previously others systematically broke their pocket knives.  They appeared unwinnable because the opposing power seemed bigger, richer, or more powerful than we Hungarians. And they appeared unwinnable because we had to struggle against a wind which previously simply blew others off the field.

While most wouldn’t have given a “lyukas gara” for it, we were able to save the economy that was headed for bankruptcy, and stand it on its feet. We were able to send home the IMF, which others only dared address with frequent apologies. In fact, we didn’t just send them home, but liberated ourselves from the slavery of indebtedness. We taxed the banks and the multinationals and we gave this money to families.  We decreased household utility costs, and created a work-based society from large-scale unemployment.  We protected pensions, paid pension premiums, and achieved double-digit wage increases. And we stopped the first large wave of migration.  We proved that the era of nations had not ended. In fact, we announced the renaissance of national thinking, culture, and politics.  We provide that the Christian way of life does not belong to the past. To the contrary, that this is something we take and need to take along with ourselves into the future.  These were all battles that we won.  These outline the road that we have traveled the past eight years.  And it is with these victories that we line up for Sunday’s fateful matter.

Dear people of Székesfehérvár!

On Sunday an election will take place that determines our fate. There are elections that are not fate-determining.  And there are those which are. In elections that are not fate-determining, we only elect representatives.  In ones that are fate-determining, in addition to representatives we also elect a future. In the non fate-determining elections, only the next four years are at stake.  In fate-determining ones many decades.  In non-fate-determining elections, it is possible to make corrections four years later. However, the results of fate-determining ones are irreparable, final, and cannot be undone.  At best we can live with the consequences.

It was in 1990 at the end of Communism when we last stood at such a crossroads. Freedom or oppression. Independence or occupation by foreign troops.  Finally we sent the Soviet troops home, to which we attached communism, and we scuttled it. We took back the country and a free Hungary was born.

Today, 28 years on, the situation is that they want to take our country away. Opposition parties in the service of foreign interests want to come to power. They want to give power to opposition politicians in the pay of foreigners so that they can demolish the fence and accept from the hand of Brussels the compulsory settlement quota, and in this way turn Hungary into a country of immigrants in order to serve the financial and power interests of their clients.

On Sunday the future of Hungary will be irreparably determined for many decades to come. If the levy breaks, if they open the borders, if migrants enter the country, there is no way back. In vain  would they like to, not even the Chancellor of Germany has the power to turn back the cogs of history.

Respected ladies and gentlemen!

Why are we gathered here today in Székesfehérvár?  It is not because I attended high school here. However, if I’m grateful to Széekesfehérvár, I’m also grateful to the Teleki Blanka high school, as well as the MÁV Előre (sports club). 

Actually, the reason we are gathered here is to give weight and gravity to our words. The reason we came together here is to demonstrate the seriousness of our intentions, the strength of our determination, and the firmness of our resolve. We wanted to stand here where one thousand years ago the Hungarian temple of heroes stood.  We wanted to stand here where the Christian kingdom of Hungary was born. Where the founders of the country understood the gravity of their mission and their work and fulfilled their mission. We wanted to assemble here where the chapter of the Christian statehood began that continues to this day.  This is where we really feel what is at stake in the struggle before us on Sunday. When we stand in this place we must withstand its gaze and we must subject ourselves to its status.  Their country stands before us. Three dates: 1001 – The coronation of Szent István.  1688, the liberation of the (Buda) castle from the Turkish occupation. 1938, the 900th anniversary of the death of Saint István.  What they founded, and for which they fought, what they defended and retain, we also need to retain and defend and, when the time comes, give over to our children and grandchildren.  Hungary is our home. We have no other.  We need to protect it. We need to defend it.  Because without it we are homeless orphans and beggars in the big world.

Finally, dear people of Székesfehérvár, the only question I need to answer is what we need to do and what more can we do. The first and most important is for us to tell everyone what danger threatens our country. We struggled together with the Hungarian people to achieve the results of the past years. Together we achieved that finally there is a future worth defending.  Look around. We are not exactly living in the western world.  Europe is burdened by numerous  problems. Armies are fighting in our eastern neighbor. A trade war looms between Europe and the United States. But the greatest danger among them is that millions of migrants threaten from the south. European leaders together with a billionaire speculator do not want to defend our borders but rather to admit migrants. That’s the truth. We built the fence, we defended the southern border, and said no to every attempt on Brussels’ part to settle migrants here. But the danger has not passed. They can hardly wait to start again.  We have 48 hours to tell this again to everybody with the requisite strength. This is not an easy task. They deny and lie. They prevaricate and defame. There is censorship. Films are deleted. Videos are banned. That is why we need to speak clearly and precisely. We need to speak openly and directly about the kind of future Brussels, the United Nations and George Soros’ workshops have planned for us.

I learned at the high school here in Székesfehérvár, perhaps from Karinthy, I will quote, I am not allowed to tell anyone, so I will tell it to everyone. Tell everyone that they want to settle the first ten thousand migrants in Hungary yet this year. Tell everyone that they have made a pact with everyone from (DK chairman Ferenc) Gyurcsány to (Jobbik chairman Gábor) Vona. Tell everyone that immigration is the blight that slowly but surely devours our homeland. So tell everyone that we have to support migrants. If the settlement (of migrants) takes place, in vain will there be economic growth, there will be nothing with which to support families or to pay pensions. Tell everyone that mass migration threatens the everyday security to which we are accustomed. With mass migration comes a greater threat of terror. It is as clear as day that where there is mass migration, women are threatened with violent attacks.

Respected ladies and gentlemen, dear friends!

Finally I ask that you think over what is really important in our lives. Family, our children, our human dignity, our freedom, our culture, and our homeland.  All of this needs to be defended by us now. The tasks have been simplified at the end of the campaign.  We can choose between two futures. The one is preferred by Soros’s candidates. The other is represented by Fidesz and the Christian Democrats. For us Hungary is first. For them George Soros and the power he offers comes first. They are capable of doing anything for money and power.

Dear friends, respected ladies and gentlemen. You know me. Perhaps you believe that I do not bend before every wind.  But alone I don’t get anywhere. And in the important moments of the months and years to follow I need every representative in parliament.  When it is necessary to defend the country, when it is necessary to say no to Brussels’ settlement plans, you can only count on our candidates.

Dear friends, in the remaining 48 hours, we also have to make sure that we remain disciplined and committed. Please do not give in to protest, do not give in to carelessness, and let us not believe that victory is at hand. Let us not believe the public opinion polls.  We don’t need to win opinion polls but the election on Sunday evening.  We have learned that victory never falls in our laps. We have always had to work twice as hard for success as others. And that will be true on Sunday as well.  Everybody who wants to protect Hungary for the Hungarians must go to vote, and both votes must be given to Fidesz. Only that is certain.  Everything else is a waste and can endanger our future. The countdown has begun. We’ve got 48 hours to take everyone to vote.  Each person has two votes. Many millions of Hungarians, many millions of votes. This stands in opposition to many millions of dollars. And I believe it is not possible to defeat the will of many millions of Hungarians with money.

Dear friends, finally even in times of greatest struggle find in your hearts and see in your neighbor a friend and fellow countryman. We are all of the same blood, said the son of the wolf, and he is right.  It binds our hearts, our memories, and our loyalty to our country.  All of us are Hungarians. To be Hungarian means we love our homeland and respect each other. So long as this remains, the Hungarians needn’t fear the most powerful and the richest enemies.  We have plenty of time to learn. So long as we stay together, we will always win. Raiser the banners in the direction of victory. Go for it, Hungary! Go for it, Hungarians!