Who is Viktor Orbán, Hungarian PM fighting to stay in power after 16 years?

No serving leader in the European Union has led their country for as long as Viktor Orbán. But after 16 years he faces his strongest challenge yet in 12 April elections, where most opinion polls suggest he is heading for defeat at the hands of former party insider, Péter Magyar.Since 2010, Orbán has transformed Hungary into what the European Parliament has denounced as a "hybrid regime of electoral autocracy". He appears uncertain how to describe his own invention. He has tried both "illiberal democracy", and "Christian liberty". His allies in the US Maga movement call it "national conservatism".Orbán has repeatedly clashed with European Union colleagues on the war in Ukraine, blocking vital funding for Kyiv, which he accuses of trying to force Hungary into war with Russia.And yet he has powerful international allies. He is considered Vladimir Putin's strongest partner in the EU, and he has been endorsed by US President Donald Trump in his bid for a fifth consecutive term in office. While Trump has promised to led US "economic might" to Hungary if he wins again, Vice-President JD Vance visited Budapest five days before the election, intervening in the campaign to appeal to voters to "stand with Viktor Orbán, because he stands for you".Within the EU, the Fidesz leader's closest allies come from the radical and hard right.His antagonism towards Brussels still pays off with many Hungarians, but Orbán has cut an increasingly lonely figure among EU leaders looking for European unity in response to the war in Ukraine. His Foreign Minister, Péter Szijjártó, recently admitted personally sharing details of EU meetings with his Russian counterpart Sergei Lavrov, but called those conversations "everyday diplomacy".