Orban's former rival: Magyar learned from our mistakes

Peter Magyar, head of the opposition TISZA party and opponent of Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban in Sunday's parliamentary elections, has drawn conclusions from the mistakes made by the opposition in the 2022 elections, said its former leader Peter Marki-Zay in an interview with Politico.

Marki-Zay admitted that although he considers Magyar “arrogant” and “egocentric”, he appreciates him for his political intuition and ability to draw conclusions from the opposition's defeat in 2022.

“Magyar has learned from our mistakes,” said the politician, now mayor of Hodmezovasarhely. “His strategy is based on the experience of the entire opposition,” he added.

“People see that the government is dysfunctional, this has also changed. People are angry, they hate Fidesz (Orban's party – PAP) so much. It was not like that four years ago,” said Marki-Zay.

Politico noted that one of the most important conclusions Magyar drew concerns the approach to Ukraine. The portal recalled Marki-Zay's gaffe, which contributed to the defeat of his bloc in the previous elections.

In February 2022, a day before Russia invaded Ukraine, Marki-Zay said that Hungary and its allies could support their neighbor militarily. Pressed by the Partizan website whether this meant sending troops to Ukraine, the opposition leader replied: “Well, if NATO decides so, even soldiers,” and then added: “but there is no talk of it at all for now.”

A day later, Russia invaded Ukraine, and pro-government media accused Marki-Zay of wanting to drag Hungary into the war.

During the current election campaign, Orban accused Magyar of being dependent on the authorities in Kiev and assessed that Tisza's victory would mean Hungary's participation in the war. Magyar rejected the allegations and declared that he would not agree to Hungary sending either troops or weapons to Ukraine.

Magyar, Politico added, also maintained strict control over the party's communications and centralized its message. He imposed a media ban on almost all party members, allowing only a few to make short public statements.

Marki-Zay said Magyar “gives the same speech” at all his rallies and speaks only to a few media outlets, focusing his message on posts he himself posts on Facebook. “He is not afraid to be a populist,” he added.

In 2022, Marki-Zay led a broad coalition that fell apart on election night amid accusations of treason. Magyar then learned a second key lesson: to defeat Orban, he had to involve the entire opposition in one move, Politico noted.

“It's good that Magyar bypassed the existing opposition parties because now he doesn't have the burden of corruption and bad reputation” of those parties, Marki-Zay said.

He declared that he had some reservations about Magyar, but he counted on his victory. “Now his task is to defeat Fidesz and put all these criminals behind bars,” he said. “If he does this, we will build a monument to him here in Hodmezovasarhely. I promised him this,” he assured.

Parliamentary elections in Hungary will be held on Sunday. In recent weeks, most independent polls have shown support for Tisza at between 49 and 58 percent. among decisive voters, with support for Fidesz ranging between 35 and 38 percent. Opinion polls also showed growing support for the opposition while the popularity of the ruling party was declining.

Polls from centers linked to the government, in turn, show Fidesz's advantage of several percentage points. (PAP)

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