“He learned from our mistakes.” The politician who lost to Orban evaluates Magyar's strategy. “He's not afraid to be a populist”

Magyar's sometimes ruthless methods have their critics. He is accused of trying to eliminate all opposition parties except his own, brutally silencing contacts with the media within his own ranks, and resorting to populist promises in the election campaign.

However, Marki-Zay believes that this is the “right” way to end Orban's 16-year rule.

– What he does [Magyar] is better, he has drawn the right conclusions from our mistakes, he said over coffee in the city of Hodmezovasarhely in southern Hungary, where he serves as mayor. “His strategy was built on the experience of the entire opposition,” he notes.

The country's poor economic situation also works to Magyar's advantage, reinforced by the widespread belief that Orban's government is riddled with corruption and cronyism. – People see that this is not an efficient government, that's what has changed… People are angry, they hate Fidesz like never before, this was not the case four years ago – says Marki-Zay.

Strict communication control

One of the most important lessons Magyar learned translated into his strategic position on Ukraine.

It's all related to Marki-Zay's disastrous gaffe, which, according to many, contributed to his defeat in 2022. Although early polls indicated a close fight, Orban ultimately won with a crushing advantage: 49.3 percent. up to 32.7 percent

As tensions between Russia and Ukraine mounted in February of that year, just before the Russian invasion, Marki-Zay told the independent website Partizan on February 23 that Hungary could support Ukraine militarily together with its allies. When asked if this meant sending troops, he replied: “Well, if NATO decides so, even soldiers,” and then added: “But for now there is no talk of it at all.”

Unfortunately for him, Russian tanks entered Ukraine the next day, and the pro-government media immediately twisted his words, accusing him of wanting to drag Hungary into the war and send Hungarian children to die across the eastern border.

This time, the opposition avoided such mistakes, although Orban constantly presented Magyar as a supporter of Kiev, allegedly ready to drag Hungary into war. Magyar also went to great lengths to avoid being perceived as a pro-Ukrainian candidate, opposing both Kiev's accelerated EU accession and arms shipments.

The favorite of the 2026 elections also controls party communication with an iron fist and has centralized the message around himself. He imposed a media ban on almost all party members, allowing only selected people to make short public comments.

Magyar “gives the same speech over and over again” at all his rallies and only talks to select media outlets, notes Marki-Zay, emphasizing that he focuses his communications on his own Facebook posts. — He is not afraid to be a populist – he adds.

According to Marki-Zay, limiting party communication channels is a “very smart move.” – This gives less opportunity for criticism, less possibility of falsifying or manipulating recordings – he comments.

Neutralizing the opposition

In 2022, Marki-Zay led a broad coalition of parties, but this strategy backfired when the coalition collapsed on election night amid accusations of treason.

It was then that Magyar learned another key lesson: to challenge Orban, you need to sweep away the existing opposition and build a single movement.

“Half of them are fools, the other half are traitors. So why bother with the old opposition? – Marki-Zay asked. In his opinion, it was a “good decision” that Magyar bypassed the existing opposition parties because now he “does not bear the burden of their corruption and bad reputation.” — There is no other way – thinks.

This strategy turned out to be clever also because the electoral system rewards large parties instead of coalitions of smaller parties.

Peter Magyar during a rally in Budapest, March 15, 2026.NurPhoto via AFP

In conditions where the system grants public financing to parties running independently, Magyar put pressure on other opposition leaders to leave the stageaccusing them of helping Orban stay in power if they don't. Those who did not withdraw say they were victims of online harassment from supporters of the Tisza party, which also challenged the registration of some candidates in court.

But Magyar had another reason not to cooperate with the old opposition and not to let politicians with a past into Tisza: he was afraid that they might be saboteurs and was convinced that a large part of the opposition was linked to Orban and was taking advantage of the status quo.

“It was clear that there were key people trying to derail the campaign,” Gary Akos, Marki-Zaya's longtime chief of staff, told POLITICO. “I even kicked one guy out of the campaign, but the others brought him back, so that in itself was chaos,” adds Marki-Zay.

Although the mayor still has doubts about Magyar, he says he hopes for his victory.

— Now his task is to defeat Fidesz and put all these criminals behind bars, said Marki-Zay. — If he succeeds, we will build a monument to him here in Hodmezovasarhely. I promised him this.