Péter Magyar, once an insider in the ruling Fidesz party, declares that ‘Change has started in Hungary which can’t be stopped’
Tens of thousands of Hungarians protested against the country’s leadership on Saturday in one of the biggest demonstrations in years, organised by a former government insider who has shaken up Hungary’s political landscape.
Now, Magyar – who was previously married to Hungary’s former justice minister – is trying to build a new kind of opposition movement. On Saturday afternoon, young people, pensioners and families with children marched through central Budapest and tried to squeeze into the vast square in front of the parliament, with parts of the crowd spilling over to nearby streets.“From now, nothing will be as it’s been,” Magyar said as he made the case for a European-facing and meritocratic Hungary.
István, a middle-aged man who had travelled to Budapest from western Hungary, said it was his first anti-government protest. “I think the opposition has been helpless,” he said as he marched toward parliament. Kitti, a young woman who said she began attending protests after the pardon controversy, said there was a feeling that the traditional opposition “is not really motivated to change this regime”.Photograph: Márton Mónus/Reutersa mafia TV show played while images of Hungary’s political elites flashed on a giant screen. There was poetry and singing, along with speeches.
A recent poll by the Budapest-based Republikon Institute found that Magyar’s party, if formally formed, would be the third most popular in the country, with 15% of voters with a party preference backing him.That finding “can be read first and foremost as a protest vote – against the regime,” said Végh, noting, however, that “if he will be able to cause a lasting headache for Orbán is still unclear”.
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