Elections in Hungary: Péter Magyar, the former insider, who today tries to demolish the Fidesz system and Viktor Orbán

After 16 years in power, Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orbán faces the possibility of losing power in Sunday's elections. His enemy, the man who wants to take his place at the head of the government, is Péter Magyar, a former member of Orbán's party, who rebelled against the system, writes AFP.

In just two years since coming into the public eye, Péter Magyar, leader of the Tisza party, has managed to establish himself as a credible challenger to Hungarian nationalist Prime Minister Viktor Orbán, who has been in power for 16 years.

A skilled communicator, both on social media and on the ground, Magyar spoke of a total change in Hungary, promising to dismantle “brick by brick” the political system put in place by Orban.

If the polls in recent months are true at the polls, he has a chance to win and become the new prime minister.

What can be expected from him? Magyar promised to dismantle the Fidesz system, improve public services and fight corruption.

There will be a change, of substance and style, but some observers warn that he was part of Fidesz, that he is a conservative with a nationalist discourse who will not automatically toe the EU line in all respects.

“In a way, Magyar is Orbán from 20 years ago”

One important thing, known to everyone: until recently, he was closely tied to this system. In 2022, AFP recalls, he was still applauding a speech by Viktor Orbán, seated in the front row next to Judit Varga, then his wife and Minister of Justice.

He says that since then, he has not shied away from speaking his mind and criticizing Orban's entourage.

“They called me the 'eternal opposition' within Fidesz,” he told AFP in 2024, shortly after appearing on the political scene.

His “former initiate” status contributed to his meteoric rise, Andrzej Sadecki, an analyst at the Center for Eastern Studies in Warsaw, told AFP.

“In a way, Magyar is Orbán from 20 years ago, without all the baggage, corruption and mistakes made in power,” he said.

A family of influential conservatives

Born on March 16, 1981 in a family of influential conservatives. Among his relatives are prominent lawyers and judges, as well as former president Ferenc Mádl, who led the country during Orbán's first term as prime minister, writes the Financial Times.

Péter Magyar was interested in politics from an early age. During his university years, where he studied law, he befriended Gergely Gulyas, Orbán's current chief of staff, and met his future wife, with whom he had three children.

After working as a lawyer, he went with his wife to Brussels when Judit Varga was hired in 2009 as an assistant to a Fidesz MEP.

Upon Viktor Orbán's return to power in 2010, he was appointed diplomat in charge of European affairs. The family returned to Hungary in 2018, when Judit Varga was appointed Secretary of State, then Minister of Justice.

Péter Magyar took over the leadership of the student loan body Diakhitel Kozpont and served on the board of several other public enterprises.

Exiting the system

Unknown to the general public before the beginning of 2024, Magyar appeared on the scene when he openly denounced the Orbán system, following the huge scandal triggered by a presidential pardon in a pedophilia case, which shook the government.

The scandal forced the resignation of his ex-wife, former Minister of Justice, and President Katalin Novák.

Magyar stated at the time that he had no political ambitions. A few weeks later, however, he already organized his first demonstration, attracting tens of thousands of people.

“For a long time I believed in the ideal of a patriotic and sovereign Hungary,” Magyar wrote in 2024. “But in recent years I had to realize that it is nothing more than a political product, a glaze … the perpetuation of power and the accumulation of enormous wealth,” he said.

Still untested in the polls, Magyar quickly became an informal leader of the opposition, not least because of his communication skills, and a strong community built around him.

He quickly took over the leadership of a previously dormant party, Tisza, which then came second in the 2024 European elections, behind the ruling coalition.

As his popularity grew, Magyar faced a series of allegations, including one of domestic violence from Judit Varga, whom he divorced in 2023. He denied the allegations, denouncing a “tsunami of hate and lies,” and analysts say the attacks further legitimized him in the eyes of voters.

Varga remained loyal to Orbán, but largely avoided the political vilification of her ex-husband.

He bet on local networks

In the election campaign and in the months leading up to it, Magyar was hyperactive, visiting numerous towns, talking to people in villages of 500 inhabitants, trying to break the Fidesz electoral mob over the countryside.

Last year, he started a long march of hundreds of kilometers, from Budapest to Oradea.

He placed a very strong emphasis on local networks, the so-called “Tisza islands”. Observers spoke of a huge enthusiasm in these local organizations, party organizations, which are helping his campaign a lot.

Part of the change promised to the voters meant proposing candidates with no political background for the parliamentary ballot.

“I think it was kind of necessary for him to vote that way. Hungarian opposition voters, as well as more centrist voters, undecided voters, are really fed up with politicians, existing, established politicians,” Andrea Virág, director of strategy at the Republikon Institute, a Budapest think-tank, told HotNews in an interview.

“And I think to really appeal to new voters, voters who didn't vote for the opposition four years ago, eight years ago, he had to show that he was different, that he wasn't from the past, that he wasn't like the politicians and opposition leaders of the past,” she said.

What Péter Magyar really wants

As for the program, Péter Magyar proposes improving public services, such as health and education, which are in a state of disrepair, according to critics, and fighting corruption.

He promises to restore the democratic balance of power and says he will prosecute members of the Orbán elite who have enriched themselves. “Comrades: it's over,” he said at a recent rally — a message to Orbán. He urged the crowd: “Repeat after me: handcuffs, handcuffs, bars, bars!”

He also hinted at a pro-Western foreign policy, saying he would strive to make Hungary a reliable NATO ally and a loyal member of the EU.

In an interview with the HotNews audience, Zsolt Enyedi, professor of political science at the Central European University in Vienna, noted that Magyar was trained within Fidesz and still carries with him some ideological and discursive features of Fidesz.

“So he is not a liberal democrat in the true sense of the word,” said the professor.

Like Orbán, Magyar refuses to send arms to Ukraine and opposes the country's rapid integration into the EU, even if he does not share the hostile rhetoric towards Kiev.

Like Orbán, he wants to keep the option of cheap Russian energy imports, which he sees as essential to Europe's recovery.

Magyar will likely be concerned that too dramatic a change in foreign policy will worry voters and fuel Fidesz's nationalist rhetoric.

“So, I think he will try to find some kind of balance. There will be some issues where he will oppose Brussels, but there will be a change. He will not be someone who will take the EU hostage with veto rights. He will try to make agreements and cooperate,” explained Zsolt Enyedi.