Hungarian and Serbian leaders' election strategies compared

A Hungarian civic action group sent 70 election monitors to Serbia to assist with the upcoming vote, working alongside student activists in the northern province of Vojvodina.

Throughout the summer, before the election was officially called, the group conducted workshops to share their experience and methods from the Hungarian election with Serbian students.

One key strategy involved identifying 'infected' polling districts, where unusually high votes for the ruling party in past elections suggested possible voter intimidation or chain voting.

On election day, student activist Péter Klemm reported that masked supporters of Vučić gathered near polling stations, prompting mobile teams to film the activity and act as a deterrent.

The presence of 20 to 30 volunteers at each threatened station, combined with stationary monitors, is believed to have prevented intimidation and fraud.

Both Orbán and Vučić were long-serving leaders, in power for 16 and 14 years respectively, who had consolidated power and built overlapping business empires in Hungary and Serbia.