There was a real earthquake in Hungarian politics on Sunday, but the signs were there. A small political party, led by an unknown, pushed the opposition parties out of the scene and became a real alternative to the Fidesz government.
Georg SoldenPhoto: Personal archive
Campaigning for European Parliament elections, Prime Minister Viktor Orbán called on his supporters to “occupy Brussels”, but his party recorded its worst election result since joining the EU. In contrast, the 19-member Tisza party, led by Peter Magyar, won no less than 30% of the vote and reshaped the Hungarian political scene.
“Don’t be afraid!” Peter Magyar informs Hungarians that John Paul II was inspired by the words considered the motto of the pontificate.
But who considers himself the “spark that could start the engine” of a country gripped by 36 years of one-party rule?
On February 2, 2024, Hungarian public opinion was shocked after learning that the President of the Republic of Hungary, Katlin Nowak, had pardoned the deputy director of a foster care center for children. After the first protests asking him to resign, the president resigned on February 10, followed by former justice minister Judit Varga’s resignation from parliament and retirement from public life.
The following day, Peter Magyar, ex-husband of ex-minister Judit Varga, announced on a social network that he would immediately resign from all positions in government institutions, because “he does not want to participate for a minute in a regime where the real leaders hide under women’s skirts”.
Although he was completely unknown to Hungarian public opinion, the press insisted that the 43-year-old lawyer give him an interview. On this occasion, Peter Magyar notes that he was a member of the ruling party (Fidesz) when he was a student, but he was not a politician, and until 2018 he was a civil servant and a reporter for the Budapest government. European Parliament. At the same time, he strongly criticizes the functioning of the government, talking about corruption and the pressures put on him by members of the government, but also about the functioning of propaganda.
Magyar says he is known as an insider critic of the Orbán regime and often calls attention to the oligarchs of the prime minister’s party-turned-family-business Fidesz. Asked by the reporter if he would take the political stage, Magyar replied, “This possibility is a bad joke,” but he did not hide that “change and the country must move in a good direction.” Then he says bluntly: “Although it appears to be a skeleton system, this regime is not as stable as it appears from the outside”, and “the seemingly hopeless situation can change very quickly”. In a few hours, the interview is watched by hundreds of thousands of people, and the unknown Peter Magyar is encouraged to take a role in Hungarian politics. The genie can no longer be bottled again.
On March 15, National Day, when tens of thousands of Hungarians gathered at his call, Peter Magyar first announced the creation of a civic movement, “Talbra Magyarók!” (Stand up, Hungarians!), aimed at protecting the rights and freedoms of Hungarians. On April 10, he also announced the name of the responsible party to participate in the elections. It is about Tisza, Tisztelet és Szabadság Bard (Honest and Free Party), a central party to which all “people of good faith who want to work for their motherland” can join, “10,000 Manole artisans who will create from nothing. A new country”.
Polling firms have already rated the new Tisza party with 13-26% voting intention, and Peter Magyar has announced participation in the European Parliament and regional local elections, a general body for recruiting candidates to the EP and joining the EPP after the election. “Let us show that conservatives, social democrats and liberals are primarily Hungarians, and together we can change the future of our country and create a European, sovereign, modern Hungary of its citizens. No matter how much FIDESZ undermines the main pillars of democracy and the rule of law, and no matter how much FIDESZ confirms its trusted cadres in public positions, it year after year for campaigning. “Even if it spends hundreds of billions, it can still be defeated in the elections,” lawyer Magyar argued.
He is a leftist, misogynistic, Soros-funded, Ursula van der Leyen, and war-supporter accused by the powers that be.Peter Magyar quickly became a “phenomenon” dominating public discourse in Hungary. Some are already talking about a “black swan event” that could bring about change in a country where “citizens belong to the EU and political elites move east”. However, the media and Hungarian elites in Transylvania completely ignore the matter.
After several massive anti-government demonstrations organized in Budapest, Magyar is calling citizens to public meetings in all districts of the country. On April 17, he begins an unprecedented campaign in Hungary, traveling the country, delivering four or five speeches daily from the platform of a tricolor van. All this, says Peter Magyar, “to meet the Hungarian province to discuss change, common future and the fact that together we can liberate Hungary”. Tens of thousands of residents of villages and towns in 192 regions are cheering him on, and reports on the decision to join the EU Prosecutor’s Office, the abolition of the Ministry of Propaganda and the establishment of the Ministry of Education and Health are very well received.
Peter Magyar speaks daily to audiences and thousands of followers live on social media about a failed government that has received 40,000 billion forints since joining the EU, twice what it took to rebuild Germany after the war, but Hungary is today the second poorest country. Too much corruption in the EU and in member states.
At the same time, Magyar happily notes that young people are interested in politics and participate in protests because someone says “enough is enough”. President Tissa promises centralization in health and education, organized employment in ministries, as well as declassification of the documents of the post-communist regime to understand how political parties were destroyed, how some entered governments, and how others functioned. Even now in relations with Russia, who and what threatens them.
“Let’s start with small steps: let’s win Romania first,” says Magyar, speaking of regaining faith in Hungary, where people’s souls and backbones have been destroyed by the regimes of Khadr, Orbán and others, where he is attorney general. A founding member of the ruling party, and public television only serves the Fidesz campaign.
Four months ago, he shared his political views only with family and friends, and now he is shaking up the regime of dictator Viktor Orbán. After the European Parliament elections on June 9, 2024, the dance started in Hungary.Read the full article and comment on contributors.ro
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