US vice president JD Vance delivered an endorsement of Hungarian prime minister Viktor Orbán just days before a he faces a make-or-break general election, praising him as model of leadership for Europe and criticising Brussels for allegedly meddling in the campaign.

Speaking alongside the Hungarian prime minister during his two-day visit in Budapest, Vance said “the amount of interference that’s come from the bureaucracy in Brussels has been truly disgraceful.” He provided no evidence for his claims.

“I won’t tell the people in Hungary how to vote,” he said, speaking ahead of the election on Sunday. “I’d encourage the bureaucrats in Brussels to do the exact same thing.”

Vance’s visit underscores the outsized role that the election in a country of 10 million has played for the US administration as it seeks to keep Orbán, its ideological ally and a perennial thorn in the European Union’s side, in power despite most opinion polls showing he could ousted after 16 years in office.

Vance is the second high-profile US official to visit Hungary before the vote. Secretary of state Marco Rubio travelled to Hungarian capital in February to offer his own endorsement, proclaiming the US and Hungary’s relationship was entering a “golden era.” US president Donald Trump has also repeatedly endorsed Orban, calling him a “truly strong and powerful leader”.

Orban has trailed the opposition Tisza party of former government insider Peter Magyar in most independent opinion polls during the final stretch of a hotly contested election.

Such remarks are a common refrain for Vance. In his speech at the Munich Security Conference last year, the vice president criticised European leaders for regulating online speech, accusing them of suppressing conservative voices and retreating from the continent’s “fundamental values.”

Those comments blindsided officials on a visit that also saw him meet Alice Weidel, the leader of the AfD, a far-right, anti-immigrant German political party.

“I’d encourage the people of Hungary to ask themselves the question not who’s pro- or anti-Europe, not who’s pro- or anti-the USA, but who is pro-you, who is pro- the people of Hungary,” Vance said in Budapest. “In my experience, I’ve seen a guy who’s ferociously advocated for the interests of Hungary. I’m here to help him in this campaign cycle.” – Bloomberg