Who Is Peter Magyar, the Man Who Toppled Viktor Orban?
Peter Magyar, a former member of Viktor Orban’s Fidesz party, defeated Orban in the Hungarian election. Magyar’s success was driven by public anger over corruption and economic concerns, promising to improve relations with the European Union and address living standards. He avoided divisive issues like LGBTQ+ rights and the war in Ukraine.
Mr. Magyar’s success in the Hungarian election is fueled in large part by widespread public anger at corruption and concern about sluggish economic growth.
The party of Peter Magyar, 45, a conservative politician and a lawmaker in the European Parliament, delivered a stunning blow in Sunday’s election in Hungary, dethroning the longtime prime minister, Viktor Orban.
Mr. Magyar, who studied law, was a little-known member of Mr. Orban’s Fidesz party for more than two decades, serving as a diplomat in Brussels and holding senior positions in state agencies. He was married to Judit Varga, a leading Fidesz figure, until 2023.
Mr. Magyar rose to prominence in 2024 after he broke with Mr. Orban over a political scandal set off by revelations that a man convicted of covering up sexual abuse at a children’s home had been pardoned. That year, Mr. Magyar created Tisza, an upstart political movement that went on to win 30 percent of the vote in Hungary during the European Parliament elections.
In the parliamentary election in Hungary on Sunday, with 66 percent of votes counted, the party was on course to win 137 seats, more than a two-thirds majority
His campaign was fueled in large part by widespread public anger about corruption, particularly the misuse of billions of euros in E.U. funding, and concern about Hungary’s sluggish economic growth. He promised to improve relations with the European Union, which has held up development funds for Hungary amid assertions that Mr. Orban has undermined democratic institutions.
Mr. Magyar also focused on living standards and issues like Hungary’s dilapidated health care system. But he steered clear of issues like L.G.B.T.Q. rights and stayed silent on a ban on the Budapest Pride parade last year. And while he criticized Mr. Orban’s tilt toward Russia by emphasizing Moscow’s long history of bullying Hungary, he avoided talking about the war in Ukraine.
Mr. Magyar was not Mr. Orban’s first right-wing challenger.
In the 2022 general election, Mr. Orban’s fractious opponents rallied behind Peter Marki-Zay, a conservative, churchgoing, small-town mayor with seven children. The effort flopped, ending in a landslide victory for Fidesz after the governing party deployed its media machine to portray Mr. Marki-Zay as a warmonger intent on sending Hungarians to fight against Russia in Ukraine."
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