Péter Magyar: Tisza to prove itself as Hungarian government’s only real challenger
Péter Magyar, deputy leader and EP list-leading candidate of the Respect and Freedom (Tisza) party, has said he expected the outcome of Sunday’s elections to demonstrate to Hungarians that Tisza “is the only real challenger to the System of National Cooperation” and the party that would replace the government in 2026.
“Whatever result we achieve will probably be sensational,” Magyar said at Tisza’s ballot-watch in Budapest.
“We’ll see Tisza achieve what no opposition party has over the last 14 years, not DK … or its satellite parties,” he added.
Magyar said his party welcomed the high turnout because it considered elections to be “a celebration of democracy”.
Meanwhile, he said his party would file complaints based on reports that ruling Fidesz was “bussing voters to polling stations and buying votes”.
Magyar: Build a party
He said the next task would be to build the party, as there were “many thousands of people” who wanted to join Tisza. The party, he added, would also put together a platform and “conclude a social contract with the Hungarian people”.
Magyar said that unlike Fidesz, which he said had spent “tens of billions in taxpayer money on the campaign and smearing its opponents”, Tisza had funded its campaign from transparent sources. He said they did not collect “micro donations”, and voters could only support Tisza via bank transfer.
Commenting on the local elections, Magyar said it was “strange” that Fidesz had backed David Vitezy, the candidate of Politics Can Be Different (LMP), for Budapest mayor, “when, according to Fidesz’s propaganda, LMP is a pro-war party”. “This means Fidesz is supporting a pro-war mayoral candidate,” he said.
Magyar said he had not voted for either Vitezy or the incumbent mayor, Gergely Karacsony, “because one is the candidate of [Democratic Coalition leader Ferenc] Gyurcsány and the other of Fidesz”. He said that if Tisza won seats in the Budapest municipal assembly, they would work with the mayor on specific issues, but would not take up any formal positions.
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Political science shows that when party support reaches the low 30s percentage range it is a psychological tipping point for a political party casting it as a serious force to attract enough support to obtain a plurality of national support. After less than four months Peter Magyar and the Tisza party appears to have reached 30% support in the June 9th EP election. To reach this milestone in such an incredibly short period of time is a stunning achievement. It is certain that Tisza did not just draw support from the other opposition parties but also siphoned considerable support from Fidesz. Orban and the rest of his group of bandits are putting on a brave face today but privately they are enormously concerned about the momentum Peter Magyar has and the failure of their massive propaganda campaign to discredit Magyar and keep a hold on former Fidesz supporters. In my opinion due to its’ sheer desperation to hold onto power the methods Fidesz will use between now and the 2026 election will become increasing repressive and we will see an even larger clash with the EU. Kiss EU funding and goodbye.