YouTube has removed the Hungarian government’s campaign video attacking the joint prime minister candidate of the opposition alliance, Peter Marki-Zay, local media write.

Although the election campaign has yet to kick off officially, the streets were flooded with billboards depicting Marki-Zay as Mini-Me and Ferenc Gyurcsany, the leader of Hungary’s largest opposition party Democratic Coalition (DK) posing as Dr. Evil, two characters from the Austin Powers film series.

The government has already spent hundreds of millions of forints on social media and YouTube, but apparently, it has done so without asking permission from the rightsholder, Warner Brothers.

Independent MP Akos Hadhazy, who has played an instrumental role in forcing Hungarian authorities to provide details of the biggest corruption scandals in recent years, revealed details of the illegal advertisement.

A few days ago, the movie studio was asked by commercial broadcaster RTL Klub, one of the few critical media outlets, whether the Fidesz or the Hungarian government had asked permission to use the characters in its ads. Warner did not reply to media requests, but as of Wednesday, the videos were not available on the largest online video sharing platform.

The fate of the billboards remains unknown.

"They take thousands of billions from people, but they are too stingy to pay a few million for the rights," Hadhazy noted.

Fidesz did not comment on Warner Brothers' move.

The government’s communication campaign is trying to exploit the unpopularity of Ferenc Gyurcsany for his role in the bloody 2006 riots and his handling of the economy before the 2008 economic crisis. Fidesz claims Gyurcsany remains the most influential politican on the left, who is seen  pulling the strings of Marki-Zay. 

Viktor Orban is facing a tight election race due in two months against a united opposition, but the six-party alliance will face an uphill battle against the ruling party campaigning with unlimited financial resources. According to Marki-Zay Fidesz friendly companies own 15,000 billboards, while the opposition can only count on some 1,300.

Polls show Fidesz leading by a few percentage points, but the election will be decided in a couple of dozen districts where the difference in support between the two blocks is within 4-5pp.