Leader of Hungary’s biggest opposition party, PM Orbán’s challenger, blackmailed by his girlfriend? – UPDATED

Leader of the opposition Tisza Party, Péter Magyar “had no ideas or convictions; he didn’t want change in the country,” the politician’s former partner, Evelin Vogel, told news portal Index in an interview published on Wednesday, adding that people did not see the real Magyar as “he is not what he seems”. Péter Magyar wrote in a reaction that Evelin tried to blackmail them but she was unsuccessful. Therefore, she turned to Gábor Kubatov, the party director and a VP of Orbán’s Fidesz, which is why she gave an interview to Index, a government-close Hungarian news outlet.

Stormy relationship

“It wasn’t down to Péter alone that he got to where he is; very good people were behind him… These people whom I worked with … had faith, they believed in change for the better,” she said, adding that it wasn’t political ends that motivated them.

Their relationship started well, she said, but later became “stormy”, and they broke up last September. He proposed to her a month later but she said no, Vogel said, adding that she could no longer identify with Magyar, whose words and actions were at odds.

Magyar told her that he had resigned from his posts in government circles voluntarily, she said, insisting she was no longer sure whether this was true or not. He “only went public because he had nothing left to lose,” she added.

“He’s not really a brave person… He always had a big mouth, but when it comes down to it, he plays it safe,” Vogel said.

She said she had mobilised her network of contacts as Magyar, once he had attacked the government system, no longer had any.

Evelin Vogel and Péter Magyar at a demonstration. Photo: FB/Péter Magyar

Magyar listens to the party treasurer

Vogel said Magyar had not had any qualms about using the audio recordings he made of his ex-wife, the former justice minister Judit Varga, and he had not revealed their content to her at the time. He thought the tapes were “a much stronger trump card” compared to the effect they ended up having, she said.

Meanwhile, Vogel said she had introduced to Magyar a businessperson who works as the party’s treasurer. Magyar “still listens” to this individual, whom she did not identify. The person provides Magyar with information from government circles, she insisted.

Magyar, she said, concentrated on himself, while his team tried to build the party organisation. “I was at the receiving end of Péter’s anger and dissatisfaction. He wasn’t there with us, he didn’t work with the others…” she said, accusing him of negativity and badmouthing members of his own team.

Vogel said their relationship deteriorated and she did not accompany him on his nationwide tour.

Magyar demands regime change. Photo: FB/Péter Magyar

She was scared

She recalled an argument between them while her child was sitting in the car. “He started yelling at me in the street … and I was scared, I felt threatened … and if I recall right, I started crying then or later. Whatever the case, I saw the child sitting in the car crying.”

Vogel said Magyar’s secret was that he had a background that gave him a gloss of authenticity while he had the rhetorical and communication skills to get people interested. “He brought people out of their apathy…” she said.

Asked who the real Magyar was, Vogel said: “I don’t think I dare answer.”

Asked how Magyar would react to her going public, she said: “He’ll be very angry, furious. But he’ll say he expected it, and even that Fidesz was behind it … I don’t know what he’ll do to me, but I hope he won’t hurt my family. I’m not saying he’s capable of absolutely anything, but he’s capable of all sorts of things.”

Péter Magyar: Evelin blackmailed me and the Tisza Party

In reaction, Magyar wrote he was in love with Evelin, but the girl started blackmailing him after he became a prominent player in Hungarian politics. The Tisza Party gained almost 30% popular support in the 9 June EU elections, sending 9 MEPs to the European Parliament. The latest polls say their support is 4-5% behind Orbán’s Fidesz. That means Magyar may beat Fidesz in the upcoming 2026 general elections.

According to Magyar, Evelin started to blackmail him and other officials of the Tisza Party in May. She wanted HUF 30 million (EUR 76 thousand) and made lots of voice recordings and videos about talks and disputes between prominent members of the party and Magyar. According to the politician’s Facebook post, she sold those recordings to Gábor Kubatov, the party director and VP of Orbán’s Fidesz, which is why Index made the interview with her now. According to Magyar, Kubatov pays her HUF 5 million (EUR 12,600) and other allowances.

Telex.hu wrote that Index is a government-close media outlet and the interview was made by a journalist employed by Fidesz’s media flagship, Hír TV.

UPDATE – Fidesz widens lead, Tisza falls in poll of government-close think-tank

According to a poll conducted at the time of the flood protection efforts in Hungary, the ruling Fidesz-Christian Democrats increased their lead while the popularity of the opposition Tisza party fell, the Nézőpont Institute said on Wednesday.

Compared with data from the week before the floods, Fidesz’s support grew by 2 percentage points to 47 percent, Nézőpont said, attributing the increase to Prime Minister Viktor Orban’s daily presence at the dams.

Meanwhile, the opposition Tisza party’s support fell by 2 percentage points to 33 percent, Nézőpont said.

Besides those two parties, another two cleared the parliamentary threshold, Nézőpont said. The Democratic Coalition-Socialists-Parbeszed was up 2 percentage points at 8 percent, and radical Mi Hazank’s (Our Homeland) support grew by 1 percentage point to 6 percent, the pollster said.

Nézőpont conducted the phone poll with a representative sample of 1,000 decided voters between September 16 and 18.

Read also:

• Even the Fidesz-close pollster measured significant strengthening for Tisza Party – read more HERE
• Leader of Hungarian opposition does not want to take part in live televised debate – here is why