JD Vance claims US is not interfering in Hungary election

US vice-president says on visit to Budapest ‘we had to show’ support for Viktor Orbán, as opposition leads polls

• Hungary elections: what is at stake and who is likely to win?

JD Vance has pushed back against claims that the US is interfering in Hungarian politics, describing the accusations as “darkly ironic”, as a set of polls suggested the opposition Tisza party could win a supermajority in the upcoming elections.

After spending his first day in Budapest excoriating the EU and accusing it of being behind one of the “worst examples” of foreign interference, the US vice-president spent part of Wednesday morning speaking at a thinktank and educational institution linked to Hungary’s leader, Viktor Orbán.