Tens of thousands of Hungarians protested against the country’s leadership on Saturday in one of the biggest demonstrations in years, organised by a former government insider who has shaken up Hungary’s political landscape.
Péter Magyar, a lawyer and former diplomat who used to belong to an elite circle around Hungary’s ruling party, publicly broke with the government in February and is now aiming to challenge the position of Viktor Orbán, the powerful prime minister.
Over the past 14 years, critics have accused Orbán of increasingly undermining democratic institutions, cosying up to Moscow and Beijing and overseeing a corrupt patronage network.
The longtime Hungarian leader, who began his career as an anti-communist liberal, has moved his Fidesz party to the right. He served as prime minister between 1998 and 2002, but since returning to power in 2010, he has taken a more nationalist, illiberal path, frequently clashing with the EU.
Now, Magyar – who was previously married to Hungary’s former justice minister – is trying to build a new kind of opposition movement. On Saturday afternoon, young people, pensioners and families with children marched through central Budapest and tried to squeeze into the vast square in front of the parliament, with parts of the crowd spilling over to nearby streets.
Some carried signs bearing the names of their hometowns. Many waved Hungarian flags.
“From now, nothing will be as it’s been,” Magyar said as he made the case for a European-facing and meritocratic Hungary. “Change has started, which can’t be stopped,” he declared.
Addressing the demonstrators, Magyar accused the country’s media and the prosecutor’s office of lacking real independence, laid out allegations of high-level government corruption, and said he would launch a party that would run in the European parliament election in June.
“We, Hungarians, are coming together,” he told the crowd, calling for rightwing, leftwing and liberal Hungarians to respect one another and work together to replace the current political elite.
Protesters who spoke to the Observer said they found Magyar – who had pitched himself as a centrist figure and had criticised both the government and parts of the opposition – convincing.
István, a middle-aged man who had travelled to Budapest from western Hungary, said it was his first anti-government protest. “I think the opposition has been helpless,” he said as he marched toward parliament.
“I find him credible,” he said of Magyar, adding: “He was a beneficiary of the system, he gave it up and turned his back on it – and that shows something.”
Magyar’s decision to publicly challenge the government came as Hungary’s president, Katalin Novák, resigned after it emerged that she had pardoned a man convicted of helping cover up a sexual abuse case at a children’s home.
Some demonstrators cited the case as part of the reason for their own growing political participation.
Kitti, a young woman who said she began attending protests after the pardon controversy, said there was a feeling that the traditional opposition “is not really motivated to change this regime”.
The protest itself differed from normal Hungarian opposition demonstrations: music from a mafia TV show played while images of Hungary’s political elites flashed on a giant screen. There was poetry and singing, along with speeches.
Observers say that while Magyar does appear to be capturing some voters’ attention, it is still unclear what impact his movement will have in the longer term.
“The appearance of Péter Magyar was unexpected and visibly caught the government and its communication machine off guard,” said Zsuzsanna Végh, a programme officer at the German Marshall Fund.
A recent poll by the Budapest-based Republikon Institute found that Magyar’s party, if formally formed, would be the third most popular in the country, with 15% of voters with a party preference backing him.
That finding “can be read first and foremost as a protest vote – against the regime,” said Végh, noting, however, that “if he will be able to cause a lasting headache for Orbán is still unclear”.
Magyar’s movement has raised hopes among those Hungarians who oppose the prime minister but also distrust the country’s veteran leftwing figures. But some of Orbán’s opponents have raised concerns that he could divide the opposition vote.
Magyar has also faced controversy over recent claims from his former wife, Judit Varga, that he mistreated her while they were married. Magyar has denied the allegations.
Asked if the Hungarian government sees Magyar and his movement as a challenge in the forthcoming European parliament and local elections, Balázs Orbán, the prime minister’s political director, said: “Such characters come and go.”
