For example, Péter Magyar defeated Hungarian Prime Minister Orbán, who had been in power for sixteen years

After sixteen years, the premiership of Viktor Orbán is coming to an end, the man who, in his own words, transformed Hungary into an “illiberal democracy”. After his convincing victory, Péter Magyar (45), leader of the opposition party Tisza, faces the tough task of lifting Hungary out of its economic malaise, restoring the rule of law and improving relations with Brussels. Expectations are sky high. After all, Magyar achieved what no one has been able to do since 2010: he got Orbán away. Five factors contributed to his success.

1Fight against corruption

At the beginning of 2024, Magyar launched himself with a bang as a political opponent of the ruling party Fidesz. After a child abuse scandal that forced the resignation of both President Katalin Novák and former Justice Minister Judit Varga, Magyar published a secretly recorded telephone conversation with his ex-wife Varga, in which she spoke about government interference in an investigation into government corruption.

The fight against corruptionnepotism and self-enrichment by the clique surrounding Orbán became Magyar’s central theme. He denounced the diversion of public money to Fidesz confidants and pointed to the poor state of health care and education. He promised to dismantle Orbán’s privileged network. That message resonated, especially because in Orbán’s fourth term, from 2022, the economy stopped growing, inflation rose sharply and living standards fell. In 2025 it was Hungary fifth poorest country of the EU.

2Renegade insider

Magyar, who comes from a wealthy family and trained as a lawyer, knows Fidesz from within. He was a member of the party for more than twenty years, working for the government and state-owned companies. His career within Fidesz stalled because he was “too ambitious and too independent,” a political scientist told news site Politico. Magyar turned against the established political order in which he had functioned for a long time.

Electorally, Magyar’s Fidesz past has two advantages. Progressive voters believe that his knowledge of the Orbán regime makes him ideally placed to fight it. He knows how the government works and what tricks it uses. For Fidesz dropouts, Magyar is an acceptable alternative: he is against Orbán, but center-right, just as strongly opposed to illegal migration as Orbán. It is no coincidence that Magyar does not comment on LGBTI rights, which came under great pressure under Orbán.

Zoom in

3Only alternative

Never before has Orbán had such a clear opponent. In the 2022 parliamentary elections, opposition parties tried to form a front, but the common leader lacked charisma. This time, other opposition parties withdrew to give Tisza a better chance.

Since his political entrance, Magyar has focused on a party with himself as the only figurehead. By taking over the sleeping Tisza party, he was able to immediately participate in the European elections in June 2024, where Tisza won 30 percent of the votes and seven seats.

The election campaign was a contest between the established, sometimes visibly tired prime minister and the ambitious, energetic challenger. That conflict worked to Magyar’s advantage. Every Hungarian who wanted to get rid of Orbán had an alternative, even if he or she did not embrace Magyar’s right-wing ideas. Before the elections, it was often said: “We are not choosing Magyar, we are choosing against Orbán.” Or: “Anything better than Orbán.”

Zoom in

4For Europe

Orbán has consistently based his campaigns and premiership on creating fear of the outside world, tapping into the sentiment of a country that has felt itself the plaything of foreign superpowers for centuries. The European Union was the enemy, and Orbán did everything he could to undermine the unity of the EU. Recent research from think tank European Council on Foreign Relations shows that many Hungarians do not support this: 77 percent want to remain within the EU, 43 percent want a different role for Hungary within the Union.

Magyar stands for restoration of the relationship between Budapest and Brussels. It is not certain that he, unlike Orbán, will agree to the 90 billion European loan to Ukraine, but he will certainly be more cooperative. He needs the 17 billion euros in European subsidies, frozen due to the crumbling rule of law under Orbán, to implement economic reforms. Young Hungarians in particular want to belong to Europe.

Choosing the EU requires distance from Moscow. Orbán cherishes his relationship with Putin, which was confirmed by leaks during the campaign telephone conversations between Hungarian Foreign Minister Péter Szijjártó and his Russian counterpart Sergei Lavrov. Tisza voters don’t want any of that. During a widely attended concert on Friday, “Ruszkik, haza!” (“Russians, go home!”) was frequently heard, an echo of the Hungarian resistance to the Russian invasion of 1956.

5Effective campaign

Over the past two years, Magyar has succeeded in both building a party and running an effective campaign. He relied on ‘uncontaminated’ people without a political background. He tolerates, like that insiders said to Politico, no objection or participation and is the only one from his party to speak to the media. His knowledge of Fidesz methods came in handy in the campaign: after his statement about a sex tape of him that was going to be released, the tape did not surface. Attempts to defame him did not bother Magyar.

Characteristic of Magyar’s campaign is that he traveled almost continuously through the country for two years for rallies and meetings with voters. He proved tireless, visiting six places a day in the closing stages of the campaign. The choice for the province turned out to be correct, Budapest still voted predominantly against Orbán.

Give a gift





Part





Email the editor