Particular attention is drawn to the mysterious disappearance of Foreign Minister Péter Szijjártó, as Hungarian media track suspicious flights of military aircraft that left the country under the cover of night and headed toward Africa.
After a full 16 years in power, Viktor Orbán conceded defeat on Sunday evening. The opposition party Tisza, led by Péter Magyar, secured a single-party majority and will control more than two-thirds of the seats in the Hungarian parliament. However, what unfolded in the hours after the polls closed resembles a political thriller scenario.
According to Hungarian and Slovak media reports, key figures of the outgoing government, such as Foreign Minister Péter Szijjártó and Minister of Construction and Transport János Lázár, have fallen completely silent.
Szijjártó, who is usually extremely active on social media, has not been heard from for over 16 hours, with his last post being a Sunday photo from voting. Journalists from the portal 444.hu particularly highlight that he was not with Orbán when the long-serving prime minister publicly admitted defeat.
Night Flights of the Hungarian Military to Africa
While votes were being counted in Budapest, in the early morning hours of Monday, two military aircraft left Hungarian airspace, reports the portal 24.hu.
* Falcon (registration 607): This aircraft, which Péter Szijjártó uses extremely frequently for his travels, took off from the base in Kecskemét. It appeared on radars near the coast of Egypt before continuing its flight toward the Red Sea. Interestingly, the same aircraft flew to the Middle East last week, making a loop in Oman. * KC-390 Millennium: The new Brazilian military transport aircraft headed toward Tripoli, Libya shortly after midnight and returned to a Hungarian base on Monday morning.
The General Staff of the Hungarian Armed Forces quickly issued a statement regarding the transport aircraft's flight, claiming it was related to the international special operations exercise "Flintlock 26," taking place in Côte d'Ivoire and Libya. However, the mystery surrounding the flight of the VIP Falcon aircraft, normally used by Szijjártó, remains unexplained.
The Lavrov Scandal and the Fall After 16 Years
The complete collapse of Fidesz and the convincing two-thirds victory of the Tisza party did not seem like a guaranteed outcome until recently. The turnaround occurred after a major journalistic investigation was leaked to the public.
Szijjártó found himself at the center of a huge scandal following the publication of details from his conversations with Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov. The allegations were severe, suggesting that Hungarian officials had passed confidential details from European Union summit negotiations to Russia, which many characterized as an act of treason.
Hungary's new political leader, Péter Magyar, is not wasting time. After the convincing victory, he has already demanded the immediate and irrevocable resignation of Viktor Orbán, while the nation still awaits answers to the questions: where have the key ministers disappeared, and who was really on the military aircraft bound for Africa.