Hundreds of thousands turned out in Budapest yesterday to attend separate rallies as Prime Minister Viktor Orbán and his chief political rival, Péter Magyar, addressed supporters in the Hungarian capital. Four weeks remain before the country’s crucial national election on 12 April.
Orbán, 62, leader of the nationalist Fidesz party, seeking his fifth election win since coming to power in 2010, faces what he considers the tightest race of his political career.
Magyar, once a Fidesz insider, broke with the party in 2024. Now, as leader of the centre-right Tisza party, he poses a major challenge to what was once the pro-Russian populist Orbán’s seemingly unassailable grip on power.
Addressing a rally of at least 100,000 on Budapest’s Heroes’ Square, Magyar said Orbán and his government’s use of propaganda and divisive politics were responsible for turning Hungarians against one another, and also of steering the country away from Western democracies.
“Our homeland is part of the West, our homeland is part of the European community, our country is part of NATO. And not because of treaties or charters, but because it is written in our destiny,“ Magyar insisted.
Orbán has claimed that Kyiv, the European Union and the Tisza party are conspiring to overthrow his government, replacing it with one that would financially support Ukraine and send soldiers to fight in its war against Russia.
Repeatedly comparing the EU and Ukraine to invading forces from Hungary’s past history, he described the upcoming elections as a “crossroads“ for the future, “We will be here even if hundreds of parachutists from Brussels fall from the sky,“ he told his supporters at yesterday’s rally. “We will round them up, dust off their pants and send them back, some to Brussels and some to Kyiv.“
Hungary’s stagnating economy, deteriorating public services, and a cost-of-living crisis — compounded by increasingly pointed allegations of official corruption — have helped fuel growing dissatisfaction with Orbán and his authoritarian methods.
Magyar, a 44-year-old lawyer, has focused his message on improving conditions for ordinary Hungarians. Campaigning across Hungary’s rural countryside, traditionally an Orbán stronghold, Magyar has promised to restore Hungary’s democratic institutions that have eroded under Orbán and said he is committed to steering the country back toward its Western partners and to halt the drift toward Moscow.
“On 12 April, we will achieve a victory that will be seen not only from the moon, but also from the Kremlin,“ he said.
Tisza holds a lead over Fidesz in most independent polling. A February survey by pollster Medián published by the news site HVG, showed Magyar’s party holding a 20% advantage among decided voters.
Yet the outcome remains uncertain given Fidesz’s efforts to mobilise its broad support in many rural areas and to exploit its control over public broadcasters and a huge web of loyal media outlets to deliver its message.
This article used information from The Associated Press.
