Steven N.
Governing party Fidesz could have up to three to four times more billboards in the upcoming election campaign than the Hungarian opposition, writes RTL.hu. So while only 2,000-3,000 billboards may be available for the opposition to promote itself, the ruling party could have as many as 5,000-8,000 billboards at its disposal around the country.
The situation for smaller surfaces such as backlit posters at bus shelters is even worse for the opposition, claims Political Capital election expert Róbert László, who told RTL that the governing party’s advantage in these spaces is orders of magnitude larger over the opposition.
Leaflets are problematic too since Hungarian Post no longer deals with their distribution. Medialog, a subsidiarty of Mediaworks, has a fairly extensive distribution network, but opposition parties are understandably wary of a company with such close ties to Fidesz.
According to HVG, advertising company Publimont Kft. dominates the outdoor poster and billboard market, controling around 11,000 nationwide locations. The former company of Lajos Simicska was taken over by Fidesz-friendly oligarch Lőrinc Mészáros in 2019.
Publimont took over rural bus stops together with their advertising space in exchange for renovating their shelters. This occurred in some districts in Budapest as well, and since 2020 the company has also contracted with smaller cities such as Budaörs, Alsóörs, Békéscsaba, Gyula, Szarvas, and Orosháza, although their 10-year contract with Nagykanizsa that expired in December was not renewed.
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