Still, some trace corruption back to Hungary’s political system. A campaign finance law introduced in 1997, ostensibly to create a level playing field for the parties, capped spending at $1.9 million per party. But, due to the expenses of modern campaign economics, it has led to widespread fraud, falsification of records and bribe-taking, according to reports and experts.
'They simply cannot run campaigns on that amount of money,' said Eva Balogh, a historian who writes the blog Hungarian Spectrum. The two biggest parties, the socialist MSZP and center-right Fidesz, spent an average of three times the maximum amount allowed under the law in the last election campaign in 2010, according to a recent study of the region by Transparency International. But neither was severely punished; Fidesz won because it kept pointing the finger at the other party as corrupt, Balogh said."