Originally formed in 1988 under the name of Alliance of Young Democrats (Fiatal Demokraták Szövetsége) as a centre-left and liberal activist movement that opposed the ruling Marxist–Leninist government.

Having set Hungary on a path of democratic backsliding, its majority of seats remained after the 2014 election, and following the escalation of the migrant crisis, Fidesz began using right-wing populist and anti-immigrant rhetoric.

Péter Molnár left the party along with Gábor Fodor and Klára Ungár, who joined the liberal Alliance of Free Democrats.

Fidesz won 15 of 23 mayoralties in Hungary's largest cities—although its candidate narrowly lost the city of Budapest to a member of the SZDSZ—and majorities in 18 out of 20 regional assemblies.

Kövér said it was a "lamentably negative" tendency, adding that it was rooted in the "disaster government" of the Socialist Party and its former liberal ally Free Democrats.

[citation needed] Fidesz was widely seen as propelled to a sweeping victory in large part due to the dissatisfaction with the ruling political establishment which was plagued by corruption scandals and by the 2007–2008 financial crisis.

In September 2006, a recording of the prime minister admitting to lying about the country's dire economic prospects was revealed by the media and broadcast on radio.

[35][36] Observers from The Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe stated that Fidesz "enjoyed an undue advantage, including in biased media coverage.”[37] This supermajority was lost, however, when Tibor Navracsics was appointed to the European Commission.

[38] Orbán and Fidesz campaigned primarily on the issues of immigration and foreign meddling, and the election was seen as a victory for right-wing populism in Europe.

Government representatives stated the move was necessary to uphold the separation of the executive and legislative branch by physically separating the two (in contrast to the Communist era when the two branches operated in the same building) while the opposition criticized the move as profligate (the renovation cost Ft21bn, or €65.5M) and as a symbolic revival of the Horthy era (Miklós Horthy also took up residence in the building).

Fidesz uses European Union and Hungarian state monies to support an extensive network of infrastructure projects, commercial enterprises, nonprofits, academic or para-academic institutions (e.g., Mathias Corvinus Collegium), and religious and cultural institutions—including the established churches like the Catholic and Reformed Churches—both within Hungary and in the diaspora.

Fidesz uses this network to attempt to create and preserve an ethnic Hungarian national bourgeoisie or "Establishment" with strong financial, ideological, and familial ties to the party leadership.

In Hungary, this governance strategy is (originally pejoratively, but now primarily descriptively) called the System of National Cooperation (Nemzeti Együttműködés Rendszere, NER).

[110] During the NATO-led bombing of Yugoslavia, Orbán refused the requests of the United States and Great Britain to invade the northernmost territory of Serbia in order to hinder the intervention of Serbian forces in Kosovo.

As he struggled to maintain rapport with the EPP, Orbán began forming a right-wing populist alliance to electorally challenge the conservative EU establishment despite voicing a desire for Fidesz to remain a member.

The Fidesz government joined the UK-led diplomatic offensive after the poisoning of Sergei and Yulia Skripal, expelling Russian embassy officials.

[123] However, Fidesz soon realigned with its formerly pro-Russian position: the party repeatedly opposed sanctions against the Russian Federation, prompting international press to describe Orbán as "a key Putin's ally".

[127][128][129][130] However, starting in the early 2020s, the Orbán government began admitting increasing numbers of foreign guest workers into Hungary due to a labor shortage resulting from strong economic growth, native population decline, and rising wages.

[137] The Fidesz government's child incentive program also offers a 10-million-forint government-subsidized zero-interest loan to married couples who are willing to have a baby after 1 July 2019.

[149] However, the Fidesz government has introduced a requirement for women seeking abortions to listen to a pulse generated by the ultrasound monitor before making their decision.

[160][161] These "information campaigns" or "national messaging initiatives," as successive Fidesz governments have called them, have been allocated annual budgets in the tens of millions of euros.

A 2015 Consultation, for example, explicitly referred to a "Soros plan" to "convince Brussels to resettle at least one million immigrants from Africa and the Middle East annually on the territory of the European Union, including Hungary," wrote that this "is part of the Soros plan to launch political attacks on countries objecting to immigration and impose strict penalties on them," and then asked citizens whether they agree.

"[156][163][164][165][109] On other occasions, such as just prior to elections, the government sent letters notifying citizens that it will reduce their gas payments by €38 and sent pensioners gift vouchers.

[194] Orbán released a video message endorsing Milorad Dodik, the leader of the Alliance of Independent Social Democrats (SNSD) and the President of Republika Srpska, ahead of the 2022 Bosnian general election.

[201] Orbán initially rejected association with Marine Le Pen's National Rally,[202] and instead endorsed François Fillon, the candidate of The Republicans, in the 2017 French presidential election.

[219] Prior to the 2019 European Parliament election, Fidesz announced it would discuss an alliance with Poland's Law and Justice (PiS) party if it leaves the EPP.

[221][222][223][224] Orbán and PiS leader Jarosław Kaczyński have vowed to wage a "cultural counter-revolution" within the EU together,[225] with the Polish government seeing Hungary under Fidesz as a model for Poland.

[249] However, Smer declined to join Fidesz's Patriots for Europe group in 2024, citing an ideological divide with the right-wing parties involved.

[276] The Fidesz, the RMDSZ,[277] MKP,[278] VMSZ[267] the HMDK[279] and the Democratic Party of Vojvodina Hungarians (VMDP)[280] support each other in the 2019 European Parliament election.

[294][295][296][297][4] Other The Fidesz government had a strong relationship with former Brazilian President Jair Bolsonaro of the Liberal Party, including sheltering him at the Hungarian Embassy in Brazil after he faced criminal charges.