Political Discourse and the Social Contract Before the EP Elections: The Hungarian Case

The 2024 EP elections brought unexpected and significant changes in Hungarian political life: the hegemonic Fidesz Party received a challenger in the Tisza Party, formed just a few months ago, which reached about 30%. The data collection around the election took place on social media (TikTok and Instagram) at the same time as the party’s leader, Péter Magyar, led a campaign tour in the country (especially in the countryside politically “forgotten” by the opposition), so their campaign took place in a space that bypassed the Fidesz-dominated communication channels, but also contributed to the further devaluation of the opposition media’s gatekeeper role. In the paper, I present this phenomenon and the discursive pattern we found during the data collection imitating real-life experience, and the main features of the ruling party’s discourse from the point of view of how these discursive topics and concepts can refer to an illiberal hegemonic and an alternative, challenging social contract.