Hungary Orban's election campaign speech - What's at stake for him
With parliamentary elections soon to be held, Hungary's Prime Minister Viktor Orban branded the opposition in his country a "creation" of foreign countries in his annual state of the nation address. The driving forces behind the strengthened opposition party Tisza are German EU politicians in particular. Opposition leader Peter Magyar then accused Orban of shying away from a real, direct confrontation with him.
15.02.2026, 17:23
SDA
A new parliament will be elected in Hungary on April 12. For the first time in 16 years, the 63-year-old right-wing populist Orban is facing a serious challenge to his claim to power.
"We already knew that our real opponents are not the Hungarian opposition parties (...). Our real opponents are their masters in Brussels," Orban told a hand-picked audience in Budapest. Hungary's opposition party Tisza, which according to polls could win the parliamentary elections, is "a creation of Brussels" under the leadership of European People's Party (EPP) leader Manfred Weber, together with EU Commission President Ursula von der Leyen as "flag mother", Orban explained.
"The Germans know that they need a Hungarian party," he said. The reason for this was that his Fidesz party had left the EPP in 2021 in the dispute over refugee policy, Orban explained. In the European elections in June 2024, the Tisza party won almost 30 percent of the vote from a standing start. The MEPs are now strengthening the EPP group.
Opposition leader Magyar countered on Sunday without addressing Orban's insinuation: "I regret that the outgoing prime minister apparently does not dare to debate with me at the moment - Viktor Orban defends himself by saying that he does not oppose me because I am a puppet," Magyar said in his State of the Union speech in front of fellow campaigners and supporters. Orban is only capable of "agitation" and "threats", but not of dealing with Hungary's real problems, Magyar continued.
Opponent wants an alternative to the Orban system
Orban's challenger Magyar is 19 years younger than him and is himself a member of the ruling Fidesz (Federation of Young Democrats) cadre. Although the law graduate held rather low-level positions in the Fidesz state - for example as head of the Office for the Administration of University Scholarships - he was married to the once powerful former justice minister Judit Varga for 17 years. Through her, he learned a lot about the practices of the head of government and his agents in the exercise of power.
Magyar broke with the Orban system two years ago. A scandal surrounding the pardon of a pedophile accomplice ended the political career of Judit Varga, who had been a co-signatory as Minister of Justice. The then President Katalin Novak, who had issued the amnesty, also had to leave under pressure from Orban. For Magyar, the red line had been crossed. In an interview with the popular internet TV station Partizan, he accused the head of government of having sacrificed the two top politicians out of opportunism. The YouTube video was viewed by 2.8 million people.
What the high-flyer Magyar is doing differently
After breaking with Fidesz, Magyar founded his Tisza party. The abbreviation stands for "respect and freedom" and is also the Hungarian name for the River Tisza, which meanders through eastern Hungary and flows into the Danube in Serbia. Magyar comes from a middle-class Budapest family and is committed to conservatism and patriotism, but without claiming to be exclusive.
With an initially tiny group of fellow campaigners, Magyar developed an incredible energy. With his humorous, sarcastic presence on social media, which always points to the sore spot, he scourges the excesses of Orban's rule.
Above all, however, he seeks to get close to the people. In elaborate round trips through the country, sometimes on foot or in a kayak on the Tisza, he showed himself in the small towns and villages that were previously firmly in the hands of the potentates of the Orban networks. His motto - a quote from the New Testament - is: "Fear not!" When thousands in small towns and hundreds in small communities flock to his appearances, it is as if a spell has been broken. As if Orban could be voted out of office.
What is at stake in the election
In opinion polls, Magyar's Tisza party has been eight to ten percentage points ahead of Orban's Fidesz for a year and a half. Magyar published his election program a week ago. "Hungary will once again be a useful, credible, active and constructive member of the EU and NATO," it says. Under Orban, Hungary blocked or watered down EU sanctions against Russia and support for the attacked Ukraine. Orban's close relationship with Russian President Vladimir Putin also stands out. Under the Tisza party, there will be "no more seesaw politics" between East and West. Hungary's place is in the Western alliances, according to the election program.
If Orban is voted out of office, this would probably have a significant impact internationally. It is no coincidence that German Chancellor Friedrich Merz indirectly made a very clear and critical reference to Orban's unilateral moves towards Moscow in his opening speech at the Munich Security Conference. The Hungarian is constantly networking with other authoritarian and semi-authoritarian right-wing movements, such as Marine Le Pen's party in France. The AfD sees him as a role model and his system as the model for the desired "restructuring" of Germany. US President Donald Trump describes him as a "strong and powerful leader" whose re-election he absolutely supports.
Orban is fighting tooth and nail to retain his power. However, attempts to defame the challenger with false accusations and smear campaigns have so far bounced off Magyar.
Orban won the election very clearly four years ago - just a few weeks after Russia invaded Ukraine. Since then, he has staged himself as the only politician who could "keep Hungary out of the war". On the other hand, Magyar is a "puppet of the warmongers in Brussels", he claims, without any evidence. The fear of war is one of Orban's trump cards that could still work.
