Esra Tekin
12 April 2026•Update: 12 April 2026
- Magyar centered his election campaign on everyday economic concerns, including living standards, poor health care system
- Magyar's rise driven largely by public frustration over corruption
In Hungary’s general election, opposition leader Peter Magyar has emerged victorious with a wide lead against incumbent Premier Viktor Orban.
Magyar, 45, is a conservative politician and member of the European Parliament who emerged as Orban’s main rival after leaving the ruling Fidesz party in 2024.
A law graduate, Magyar spent more than 20 years within Orban’s political circle, though he remained relatively unknown for much of that time.
He worked as a diplomat in Brussels and held senior posts in state institutions.
Until 2023, he was married to Judit Varga, a prominent Fidesz politician.
Magyar gained national attention in 2024 when he broke with Orban following a political scandal involving the pardon of a man convicted of concealing sexual abuse at a children’s home.
Later that year, he founded Tisza, a new political movement that secured 30% of Hungary’s vote in the European Parliament elections.
His rise has been driven largely by public frustration over corruption, especially allegations involving the misuse of billions of euros in EU funds, as well as concern over Hungary’s weak economic performance.
Ties with EU
He has also pledged to repair ties with the EU, which has withheld development funding over claims that Orban has weakened democratic institutions.
Magyar has centered his campaign on everyday economic concerns, including living standards and the poor state of Hungary’s health care system.
Although he condemned Orban’s closeness to Russia by pointing to Moscow’s long record of pressuring Hungary, he has said little about the war in Ukraine.
"I strongly call on the Russian leadership to refrain from any influence on the Hungarian parliamentary elections and from threatening Hungarians," he said in a statement last month.
He is also not the first conservative challenger to take on Orban.
In the 2022 general election, Orban’s divided opposition united behind Peter Marki-Zay, a conservative and religious small-town mayor with seven children.
That campaign failed badly, ending in a sweeping Fidesz victory after the ruling party used its media network to cast Marki-Zay as a warmonger who wanted to send Hungarians to fight Russia in Ukraine.
