Orban

But it wasn't until the end of World War I that explicit far-right ideology arrived in Hungary, with the humiliation associated with the dissolution of the Austro-Hungarian Empire and the infamous Trianon Treaty providing the perfect breeding ground for such beliefs.

What is less talked about, however, is what came after the fall of Hungary's great medieval kings. Following the catastrophic Battle of Mohacs in 1526, the medieval kingdom of Hungary was subject to nearly two centuries of partition and external rule, with the eastern half of the kingdom coming under the rule of the Muslim Ottoman Turks of Constantinople.

Marki-Zay, or MZP as he's known more colloquially, was polling so poorly before the first round of the primaries on September 18-28 that it seemed highly unlikely he would be among the top three candidates to make it through to the second and final round held on October 10-16. But then he did, with only 21 per cent of the vote.

The project is spearheaded by Jansa, whose political career is based on the notion of ​​overcoming communism.

The local press was full of complaints over the tightly controlled event, which Orban stressed had definitely no connection to the upcoming election in Czechia but was merely a standard state visit. Naturally, then, the two premiers refused to take questions, but treated the few journalists admitted to an hour-long chat.

Hungarian politician Klara Dobrev, 49, whose father is Bulgarian, proved to be a major candidate in the opposition's attempt to oust Prime Minister Viktor Orban in next year's elections. This is shown by the partial results of today's internal elections, Reuters and BNR reported.

If the parliamentary vote succeeds, Klara Dobrev could become the country's first female prime minister.

Closer to home, 40 kilometres west of Budapest, Orban fulfilled a personal dream to build a stadium in Felcsut, the small village of 1,700 people where he grew up. Together with his close ally and mayor of Felcsut, Lorinc Meszaros, the two managed to have a stadium with a capacity of 3,800 built in 2014 for the Puskas Academy team at a cost of 10 million euros.

Czech PM Andrej Babis; Slovenian PM Janez Jansa; Hungarian PM Viktor Orban; Serbian President Aleksandar Vucic; Bosnian Serb leader Milorad Dodik; and Hungarian Families Minister Katalin Novak on the stage at the 4th Budapest Demographic Summit in Budapest, Hungary, 23 September 2021. EPA-EFE/SZILARD KOSZTICSAK

Eleven years after Orban returned to power and made family policy a cornerstone of his vision for the future, the answer is that it's complicated.

Pope Francis arrived in Budapest on Sept. 12 to celebrate a mass, with eyes focused on his meeting with the anti-migration Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban.

The head of 1.3 billion Catholics will have a half-hour meeting with Orban - accompanied by Hungarian President Janos Ader - in Budapest's grand Fine Arts Museum, in what could be an awkward brief encounter.