Hungary's opposition skyrockets as citizens push back against Orbán and rising costs
Photo: Péter Magyar (Getty Images)
The rise in support for the opposition Tisza party in Hungary is primarily linked to a broad group of dissatisfied voters, says Rasto Kuzel, executive director of the organization Memo 98 (Slovakia), which monitors political processes in the EU.
As he told RBC-Ukraine, it includes both disappointed conservatives and former opposition supporters who are looking for a real force capable of defeating the country’s incumbent prime minister, Viktor Orbán.
“Party leader Péter Magyar is a former insider of the system, which allows him to criticize the government from the position of a person who knows mechanisms of power from inside,” Kuzel noted.
He stressed that fatigue among part of society after nearly two decades of Orbán’s dominance in Hungarian politics also plays an important role for the leader of Tisza.
Orbán has served as Hungary’s prime minister for approximately 19 years, first from 1998 to 2002, and then continuously since 2010. This causes a growing demand for political change.
“In combination with economic difficulties, rising cost of living and frozen European funds, this has created an environment in which readiness to support political change has become higher than before,” Kuzel said.
Russia secretly launched a disinformation campaign in Hungary. Its goal is to strengthen the position of Prime Minister Viktor Orbán ahead of the April 12 election and undermine his main rival, Péter Magyar.
Recently, Péter Magyar accused Viktor Orbán of inviting agents of Russia’s GRU to Hungary to interfere in the parliamentary election.
According to Magyar, several weeks ago, the intelligence officers had already arrived in Budapest, just as they had previously operated in Moldova. He called for their expulsion from the country and for the National Security Committee to be convened.
Whether Orbán can be ousted this time, what he is doing to retain power, and how this affects Ukraine — read in the RBC-Ukraine article.
