Hungarian opposition leader Peter Magyar says a clip of him in intimate poses will be published before the election / Accusations against Viktor Orban's party
“It's good for everyone to know that I have not and will not give in to any blackmail,” said Peter Magyar on Tuesday, who directly accused the ruling Fidesz party of “a Russian-style campaign that was unimaginable until now.”
Hungarian politician Peter Magyar announced on Tuesday that his political rivals in Viktor Orban's Fidesz party plan to release a possibly faked recording of him in intimate poses with his ex-partner, two months before the April 12 general election.
“For a long time, they have been blackmailing and threatening with videos and smear campaigns,” said Magyar, who added that Fidesz “will launch a Russian-style campaign that was unimaginable before.”
“Many journalists received a link today showing a video camera. I suspect that they intend to publish a recording, probably faked, made with secret service equipment, in which my ex-girlfriend and I appear in an intimate situation,” the Hungarian opposition leader continued.
“I don't know what they hope to achieve with this, other than to distract attention from the death factory in Göd and the role the Orbán government played in it,” Magyar added, referring to a contamination scandal at the Samsung factory in the city of Göd.
“Yes, I'm a 45-year-old man and I have a sex life. With an adult partner. I have three minor children, which this 'family-friendly' government obviously doesn't care about,” he added.
“But it is good for everyone to know that I did not and will not give in to any blackmail. We did not steal 650 billion from the National Bank, we did not save accomplices of pedophiles, we did not harm the health of tens of thousands of our compatriots,” he said.
What the polls say two months before the elections
Magyar's centre-right Tisza party is leading Prime Minister Viktor Orban's party ahead of the April 12 election, according to an opinion poll published on Tuesday, cited by Reuters.
Although pro-government polls put Fidesz in the lead, the 21 Institute poll published by the 24.hu news site was the second this week to put Tisza in the lead and showed that a third party, the far-right “Our Fatherland”, will win enough seats to enter parliament.
One thing is certain, Orban faces the biggest challenge to his rule since Fidesz swept to victory in 2010, although the outcome remains highly uncertain, with opinion polls showing many voters still undecided.
The 21 Institute poll, conducted between January 28 and February 2, places Tisza at 35 percent of the vote among all voters, up from 34 percent in December. Fidesz is credited with 28% of the vote, up from 26%.
The poll showed that 53% of decided voters support Tisza and 37% support Fidesz, a level similar to December.
The poll showed that Mi Hazank (Our Fatherland) would be the third party to cross the 5% threshold needed to enter parliament.
A survey conducted by the Publicus Institute and published on Monday by the Nepszava newspaper showed that 48% of voters who decided to go to the polls support Tisza and 40% support Fidesz, and Mi Hazank has more than 5% support. The poll also showed 27 percent of voters were undecided, up from 31 percent in December.
