After Hungarian opposition leader Péter Márki-Zay failed to defeat Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orbán in the 2022 parliamentary election, many Hungarians said that only a politician from within the prime minister’s party could defeat Orbán, writes Politico.
That’s exactly what Tisza leader Péter Magyar, who is currently leading the polls. He spent his time in Orbán’s Fidesz party, was married to a former justice minister in Orbán’s government, and knows how to beat the prime minister at his own game.
Márky-Zay is not a big fan of Magyar’s personality, and considers him arrogant and self-centered, but praised the opposition leader’s cool-headed approach to politics and his ability to learn important lessons from the opposition’s failure in 2022. One of the main lessons is not to let himself get dragged into bitter discussions about international support for Ukraine, which was Márky-Zay’s mistake and cost him his victory.
Magyar’s sometimes ruthless tactics have their critics. He has been accused of trying to destroy all opposition parties except his own, of trying to smoke out the media presence within his own ranks, and of resorting to populist promises during the election campaign. However, Márky-Zay sees it as the right way to end Orbán’s 16-year rule. Speaking to Politico in the southern Hungarian city where Márky-Zay is mayor, he said that what Magyar is doing is better, and that it is precisely what he has learned from the opposition’s past failures – that his strategy is shaped by the collective experience of the entire opposition.
Magyar’s success in the campaign is also determined by the country’s economic situation,
which is reinforced by the public’s increasingly clear perception that Orbán’s government is ingrained with corruption and favoritism regardless of performance and experience. Márky-Zay said that people see that this is not a functioning government. They are angry and they hate Fidesz, but that was not the case four years ago.
One of the most important lessons that Magyar has learned has translated into his strategic approach to the Ukraine issue. Márky-Zaj’s stance is largely blamed for his election loss. Despite the fact that the polls predicted a close race, Orbán won with 49.3% of the vote. In February 2022, just before Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine, Márky-Zaj told the independent media outlet Partizán that Hungary could militarily support its neighbor. When asked if this would also mean the actual deployment of troops in Ukraine, he replied: “Well, if NATO decides so, then even soldiers.” The politician immediately added, however, that there was no evidence of this. Unfortunately, the Russians invaded Ukraine the very next day, and the pro-government media twisted the opposition politician’s words, accusing him of trying to drag Hungary into war and of wanting to send Hungarian children to die in Ukraine.
This time, the opposition has avoided such discussions, despite the fact that Orbán regularly calls Magyar a Kyiv-friendly candidate who wants to drag Hungary into the war. Magyar has indeed made considerable efforts not to be perceived as a pro-Ukrainian candidate, opposing both Ukraine’s accelerated accession to the European Union and opposing the shipment of weapons. The Tisza leader also closely monitors the party’s communications, entrusting all messages to the public to himself and a few other party members.
Other party members are not allowed to comment to the media.
Márki-Zay pointed out that Magyar gives the same speech at all pre-election events and speaks only to a few media outlets, concentrating all communication in his own Facebook posts. As Márki-Zay pointed out, Magyar is not afraid to be a populist, and added that limiting the party’s communication is a wise move, as it means there is less chance of facing criticism and fake and manipulated narratives.
In 2022, Márki-Zay led a broad coalition of parties, but the strategy backfired in an unpleasant way, and the coalition fell apart on election night. Magyar learned a lesson from this – to crush Orbán, the entire opposition must be united in one movement. Márki-Zay asked rhetorically: “Half of them are stupid, the other half are traitors. So why deal with the old opposition?” He pointed out that it was good that Magyar bypassed the old opposition parties, because now he has to bear the burden of corruption and bad reputation that follows these parties. The strategy has also been successful because the electoral system is more favorable to large parties than to alliances of small opposition parties.
Magyar had another reason to refuse to work with the old opposition parties – these are concerns about saboteurs. The Tisza leader believes that many opposition representatives had agreed with Orbán, and in fact benefited from the situation not changing. Márki-Zay’s campaign manager Gary Akos told Politico that it was clear that there were “key people” in the opposition who were trying to disrupt the campaign. Márki-Zay added that he had even banned one politician from participating in the campaign, but others had dragged this person back, and that alone had created chaos.
Despite some dislike, Márki-Zay still hopes that Magyar will win. The main thing now is to defeat Orbán and “put all those criminals behind bars,” and if Magyar succeeds, Márky-Zay promises to erect a monument to him in his city.
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