Péter Magyar: János Lázár to be Fidesz prime ministerial candidate in place of PM Orbán

According to the chairman of the Tisza Party, who is mounting a challenge to Prime Minister Viktor Orbán ahead of the 2026 general election, János Lázár will become the prime ministerial candidate for Mr Orbán’s Fidesz-KDNP alliance, as he will bear responsibility for the party’s expected defeat.

Will János Lázár bear responsibility?

Péter Magyar, leader of the Tisza Party, claimed in an afternoon post on Facebook that János Lázár, Hungary’s Minister for Construction and Transport, will be the prime ministerial candidate for a coalition comprising Mr Orbán’s Fidesz and the right-wing Mi Hazánk (Our Homeland) movement. Mr Magyar believes Fidesz will lose the forthcoming general election, leaving Mr Lázár to shoulder the blame for the reverse. László Toroczkai, the leader of Mi Hazánk, has written that Magyar simply wants to steal votes from him with this post, because it has no real basis.

The last time Mr Orbán suffered a national defeat was in 2006, when the Socialist-liberal coalition led by the then-prime minister, Ferenc Gyurcsány, prevailed.

Mr Magyar cited no sources for his scenario. He merely stated that he had heard it from multiple contacts.

President Orbán?

The post follows a nationwide scandal engulfing Mr Lázár. The minister declared that Hungary did not wish to admit migrants, leaving no one available for menial tasks such as cleaning train toilets. Instead, he suggested, the country had a ready reserve in the form of its Roma population. The remarks provoked a national outcry, with even Roma celebrities—including the hugely popular singer and entertainer Kis Grófo, a Fidesz supporter—voicing their criticism of Mr Lázár. The minister later apologised for his comments.

In Mr Magyar’s account, Mr Orbán would assume the presidency, thereby evading accountability. Previously, Mr Orbán had consulted his Fidesz parliamentary group after each election on whether to shift Hungary to a presidential system. With no one advocating the change, the political structure remained—and will remain—unchanged ahead of the vote.

All polls conducted by pollsters not close to the government claim that Péter Magyar’s Tisza party will win the elections by a landslide. Meanwhile, pollsters close to Fidesz insist that those surveys are all lies and serve solely the interests of the opposition.