Hungary’s opposition leader Péter Magyar framed the country’s election next week as a referendum on Hungary’s direction internationally, telling The Associated Press that the vote will test whether Hungary can retake a place among the democratic societies of Europe or continue a drift toward Eastern autocracies. Speaking Thursday in Kiskunhalas, Magyar said the contest against Prime Minister Viktor Orbán will determine whether Hungary remains aligned with European integration and NATO commitments.
Magyar, who helped found and then broke with Orbán’s political circle before launching the Tisza party, said in the interview that Orbán has brought Hungary through a “180-degree turn” in recent years. He described the shift as endangering Hungary’s Western orientation while simultaneously drawing Hungary closer to Moscow.
Magyar said voters still see European Union and NATO membership as a保障 for their “peace and development.” He said that belief underpins the central message of his campaign, arguing that the country’s election will be a “referendum on our country’s place in the world.”
In his remarks to the AP, Magyar linked the political stakes to both domestic governance and foreign policy, saying Orbán has cultivated alarm about external dangers and used them to mobilize support. He cited the war in Ukraine and what he described as a combination of EU “bureaucrats and financial elites” aligned against Hungary, along with immigration concerns, as themes Orbán has emphasized.
Magyar also said he expects Tisza to win decisively, arguing that even people who vote for Orbán’s Fidesz do not want Hungary to be shaped as a Russian “puppet state,” a “colony,” or an “assembly plant” rather than belonging to Europe. He said his campaign blitz is designed to reach voters across Hungary as he visits up to six towns a day ahead of the April 12 election.
The AP reported that Magyar spoke after a rally by his center-right Tisza party in Kiskunhalas, a city of around 25,000 in Hungary’s southern Great Plain. Magyar has held rallies across the country, with his rise catching many voters by surprise after more than a decade and a half in which opposition parties failed to pose a serious challenge to Orbán’s hold on power.
The interview described Magyar’s background as a 45-year-old lawyer who had previously allied with Orbán. It said he had been married to an Orbán ally who served as Hungary’s justice minister and that he worked as a diplomat in Brussels before returning to Hungary and taking roles in state institutions.
It also said Magyar’s break with Orbán came in the wake of a 2024 political scandal involving a presidential pardon connected to an accomplice in a child sexual abuse case. In the AP account, Magyar then founded the Tisza party, which won 30% of the vote in European Parliament elections just four months after his entry into electoral politics, and his rally chant “The Tisza is flooding” became a motto for his surge.
Beyond domestic messaging, Magyar portrayed Orbán’s handling of the European Union as central to the country’s future, including what he described as disruptive vetoes of EU decisions. The AP said he criticized Orbán for what he described as vetoing “just to veto,” and he linked the relationship to EU reform debates around reducing the number of unanimity-based decisions.
In the interview, Magyar said that if Tisza forms a government, European leaders can expect a position that is “constructive” but also “critical and willing to debate,” with an aim of being “there at the table.” He said he viewed representing Hungarian interests forcefully as a task of any Hungarian prime minister, “Whatever it costs.”
Magyar also addressed Russia, saying that while he condemned Hungary’s drift toward Moscow and discussed concerns about Russian secret services meddling, his future government would pursue a “pragmatic” approach. He said, “Pragmatism means that we have no say in Russia’s internal affairs, and they don’t have any say in our affairs,” adding that Hungary and Russia are sovereign and “but we don’t have to like each other.”
The AP said Magyar criticized Orbán’s government for failing to diversify Hungary’s energy mix. He said he wanted new agreements and infrastructure to bring oil and gas from other sources into landlocked Hungary, while also arguing that Hungary should not abruptly stop using Russian oil before broader European resources are used effectively.
US Vice President JD Vance is set to visit Budapest Tuesday in support of Orbán’s reelection, the AP reported, describing a sign of U.S. political figures’ attention to Orbán’s influence beyond Europe.