Everything in Place for Actors Interested in Toppling Orban's Government to Interfere in the 2026 Election

The circle linked to former Hungarian Prime Minister Gordon Bajnai has developed connections throughout Europe, attempting to manipulate the elections in Hungary in 2022 and in Poland this year.

Photo source: ATV/YouTube, Balazs Hatlaczki. Montage: Magyar Nemzet

• The DatAdat-linked power hub led by Gordon Bajnai's team has formed alliances with political and civil society organizations in a dozen of European countries. 
• This group was actively involved in attempts to manipulate Hungary’s 2022 parliamentary election through foreign funding and is now suspected of trying to influence Poland’s recent presidential election. 
• The DatAdat-linked network surfaced behind Peter Magyar last year and recently set up a professional campaign organization in Brussels. 
• All signs suggest that preparations for interfering in Hungary’s 2026 national election are already underway, with the aim of bringing down the Orban government. 
• The network continues to build experience.

Poland’s presidential election ended in a close result. The first round signaled a right-wing surge, and in the second round, conservative candidate Karol Nawrocki, supported by the right-wing PiS, defeated the left-wing Civic Platform candidate, Rafal Trzaskowski, with 50.9 percent of the vote.

The outcome is also significant for Hungary, as experts believe it could weaken or even topple the Tusk government. However, another aspect of the Polish election may have an even greater impact on Hungary's political context: reports emerged just before the first round about illegal, foreign-funded efforts to manipulate the outcome.

Media reports cited two virtually unknown Facebook pages that had spent large sums of money in recent weeks advertising political videos in Poland that supported the left-wing candidate and sharply attacked the right wing. The affair sparked a scandal in Poland, and the national security services are now investigating the circumstances.

Hungarian Operators in the Network

According to press coverage, the operation may have been executed by Estratos Digital GmbH, a Vienna-registered company, with financial links extending to the American foundation Action for Democracy (A4D).

Estratos is part of the Hungarian DatAdat group of companies. It was previously known as DatAdat GmbH and is run by two close allies of Bajnai: Viktor Szigetvari and Adam Ficsor. A4D is also led by Bajnai's associate, David Koranyi. It’s worth noting that these two groups have already worked together: during Hungary’s 2022 parliamentary election, A4D transferred the equivalent of 3 billion forints into the country, most of which went to DatAdat. Their clear goal was to bring down the right-wing government and help a left-wing cabinet take power.

In light of these reports suggesting that companies connected to senior figures on the Hungarian left attempted to influence the outcome of the presidential election in Poland—one of Europe’s mid-sized powers—we investigated where else Bajnai’s men are showing up. The results are thought-provoking, to say the least.

Data Handling, Fundraising, Messaging Tools

Before mapping the Hungarian and European network of ties, it’s important to clarify what exactly we were looking for. First, we looked at the business and political affiliations of Estratos Digital GmbH, the firm named in the Polish reports on election interference. Estratos, headquartered in Vienna, is a digital agency primarily focused on supporting progressive political movements. 

The company is run by Viktor Szigetvari (former chief of staff to Bajnai) and Adam Ficsor (secret services minister in Bajnai’s government). In addition to the emergence of Estratos, we also traced appearances of Lunda, a donation platform, and WinWithMe, a chatbot/messenger bot tool used in digital campaigning. Both are tools developed by DatAdat and key instruments in digital political strategy.

Tisza Party and the Democratic Coalition Lumped Together

In Hungarian public life, these tools—Estratos, Lunda, and WinWithMe—are used almost exclusively by committed left-wing and anti-government actors. One example is the Democratic Coalition (DK), now run without Ferenc Gyurcsany, which uses Estratos as its data controller. In 2023, DK also used the Lunda platform to raise money in response to a fine imposed by the State Audit Office.

Estratos and Lunda also surfaced in connection with Peter Magyar under notable circumstances. On February 29 of last year, the Talpramagyarok.hu website was registered, showcasing the community around Peter Magyar—who at the time had no political party. In the site's privacy policy, both Estratos and Lunda were listed as data handlers. After Magyar Nemzet reported on this, drawing attention to DatAdat’s presence behind Magyar, the privacy notice was updated—Estratos and Lunda were simply deleted deleted from it.

When our outlet  asked Peter Magyar about this—at a time when he was still ready to respond to our inquiries—he claimed it was a misunderstanding, saying they didn’t want to pay for a legal privacy notice, so they just copied one from another site, which is how the two DatAdat-linked companies ended up listed there.

Karacsony’s Campaign, Jambor’s Overtures

Peter Magyar did not specify from whom his team copied their privacy policy, but there are several political organizations where at least one of the three DatAdat-linked service providers has appeared. One such group is the NoAr Movement, led by actor Aron Molnar, a frequent participant in anti-government events.

Clients also include the Partizan Foundation run by leftist activist Marton Gulyas, former Bajnai-aligned politician-turned-influencer Peter Juhasz, and Budapest Mayor Gergely Karacsony. Also on the list are the far-left Szikra Movement and the Merce blog, both linked to Andras Jambor. These connections deserve a closer look.

Estratos is listed among the data controllers of the mayor's personal website, but the relationship between the politician and DatAdat goes back much further and is significantly more complex: in 2019, Bajnai and his circle could have helped Karacsony win the mayoral seat. A document published by the Sovereignty Protection Office last year confirms this: it was a business proposal from DatAdat to Karacsony. The proposal included management of social media pages, IT services, 10,000 bot followers, the handling of 50,000 individuals from a database, a bulk email system, and an online petition platform. Also included were ongoing consultancy and mass SMS services.

In other words, Bajnai’s network had an arsenal of digital tools to mobilzes voters and support Karacsony’s mayoral campaign and victory.

Now let’s turn to Andras Jambor. He sits in Parliament as a member of the Dialogue (Parbeszed) party, which has virtually no measurable public support—making his political weight negligible.  Yet, he is tied to the radical left-wing Szikra Movement and the Merce blog—both of which, at the time of our investigation, used Estratos or Lunda services. This places them squarely in the DatAdat orbit.

Back in March, information from sources close to the Tisza Party revealed that Jambor was actively seeking contacts with Peter Magyar. He even referred to Magyar as the opposition’s leader and said he could see himself supporting him. 

Jambor would certainly be courting Magyar in order to be an MP in the next term, and for this – as far as we know – he could make his connection to the DatAdat circle a bargaining chip, which could be of great help to the Tisza Party in online campaigning. However, it is highly questionable whether Magyar needs any type of brokering from Jambor.

 

  Andras Jambor, MP for Parbeszed, is asking a question during question time in the Natonal Assembly on May 26, 2025 (Photo: MTI/Noemi Bruzak)

Pride Marches in Budapest and Warsaw

DatAdat services are also used by a variety of civil society organizations in Hungary—from tree-planting and animal rescue foundations to more prominent groups like the Rainbow Mission Foundation, the organizer of Budapest Pride.

In Poland, we found the same pattern: Estratos and Lunda were used by the organizers of Warsaw Pride. The DatAdat network has a strong presence in Poland, where 

we identified about a dozen local organizations using their services. Most are focused on women’s rights (e.g., against menstrual discrimination and for broader access to abortion) or LGBTQ advocacy.

Polish Prime Minister Donald Tusk and his wife Malgorzata cast their votes in the second round of the presidential election at a polling station in Sopot on June 1, 2025. (Photo: 
MTI/EPA/PAP/Adam Warzawa)

Our research also revealed that Bajnai’s network has even more clients in Italy. The same DatAdat-linked names show up on websites of politicians and political players, as well as LGBTQ organizations. 

Our research also revealed that Bajnai’s network has even more clients in Italy. The same DatAdat-linked names show up on websites of politicians and political players, as well as LGBTQ organizations. The client list also includes political groups in Portugal, a leftist movement in Luxembourg, a youth political organization in Belgium, an MEP from Romania, and the Czech Pirate Party. We also found clients in Austria, Germany, Israel, and the UK.

A New DatAdat in Brussels?

One of the most striking clients using both Estratos and Lunda is the European Center for Digital Action (ECDA), based in Brussels. 

ECDA was registered shortly after the Hungarian opposition suffered a major defeat in the 2022 election. Its stated goal is to support progressive left-wing movements and to help push back right-wing forces in Europe. The ECDA employs over a dozen experts skilled in online campaigning, fundraising, community building, and voter mobilization. Some have clear ties to George Soros’s network, and one is a leader in Jambor’s Szikra Movement. Even more telling: Adam Ficsor, a central figure in DatAdat and Bajnai's close ally, is one of ECDA’s co-founders.

So, in the wake of Fidesz’s two-thirds victory, a highly professional digital campaign organization—with links to Soros world—was quickly established in Brussels, supervised by the same DatAdat-linked key figure who orchestrated the Hungarian left’s 2022 campaign and secured for them plenty of funds from the millions of forints in donations from the US, likely sourced from Soros-affiliated circles.

Another Round of Interference Ahead?

In summary, Gordon Bajnai’s allies have built a campaign network skilled in the latest digital strategies. This network operates in multiple European countries and has shown up behind Peter Magyar—currently the leading figure of the Hungarian opposition. The DatAdat group actively attempted to influence Hungary’s 2022 election (using foreign funds) and has now likely tried to interfere in Poland’s presidential race.

This network operates in multiple European countries and has shown up behind Peter Magyar—currently the leading figure of the Hungarian opposition. The DatAdat group actively attempted to influence Hungary’s 2022 election (using foreign funds) and has now likely tried to interfere in Poland’s presidential race.