Tens of thousands of people demonstrated on Saturday in defense of Hungarian opposition figure Peter Magyar, who has emerged as the main challenger to long-time nationalist Prime Minister Viktor Orban in the run-up to EU elections.
While Orbán’s Fidesz party could win an undisputed 50 percent of the vote, according to the latest polls, Magyar’s Tisza movement is expected to get around 27 percent on Sunday.
Magyar, a 43-year-old former government official, rose to prominence earlier this year following a child abuse pardon scandal that rocked Orbán’s government in an unprecedented way.
He criticized a “system” firmly under the control of Orban, who has ruled the Central European country uninterruptedly since 2010, making him the EU’s longest-serving leader.
“Together we can save Hungary… We are here and we are ready to change our destiny, the destiny that a thieving and oppressive power wants to impose on us,” he told a huge crowd, with many waving Hungarian flags.
“Viktor Orban has kept his own people in fear,” he added.
Signs held by the excited masses read “Wake up Hungarians” and “We are masters of our future”.
“It’s good to be here because people have hope” in a “better future for their families,” Zoltan Ekes, a 49-year-old coach, told AFP.
Geza Kenyer, a 51-year-old engineer, said it was the first Magyar event he had attended to protest “incredible corruption”.
“Orban and his people have no values other than staying in power,” said Kenyer, who voted for Fidesz “a long time ago.”
Orbán has promised to “occupy Brussels” as a far-right trend is expected across Europe in the EU elections.
Last weekend, tens of thousands of Hungarians demonstrated in a “march for peace” called by Orbán, 61, who increasingly fuels fears of a war between the West and Russia, which he blames on Brussels and Russia. BORN.
Orban has called himself “fighting only for peace” in the EU, characterizing the upcoming European Parliament elections as a referendum on the conflict in Ukraine.
As Moscow’s closest ally in the EU, despite the invasion of Ukraine, Orban refused to send weapons to Kiev, while blocking European military aid.
Earlier this year, rare public fury erupted in Hungary after it emerged that then-president Katalin Novak had pardoned the accomplice of a convicted child abuser.
Novak resigned, but anger at the government – and Orbán’s grip on power – continued to be expressed at Magyar rallies.
Almost eight million voters are called to the polls on Sunday in Hungary. The municipal elections will be held at the same time as the EU elections.
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