Tens of thousands of people rallied in Budapest on Saturday to support a former ruling class insider who has now become a critic of Prime Minister Viktor Orbán and is seeking to challenge Hungary’s nationalist leader.
The demonstration was organized by lawyer Peter Magyar, who has rocked Hungarian politics since the scandal erupted in February over a presidential pardon in a pedophile case.
A crowd of around 100,000 people responded to his call in Budapest’s Kossuth Square, in front of the parliament, according to the AFP, while the German Agency comments that it is one of the largest protest gatherings in recent decades in Hungary.
Many of those gathered held banners with the national colors and placards reading “Hungarians are rising!”.
“We will reclaim our country step by step and stone by stone, we will build a sovereign and modern Hungary,” Magyar told the crowd.
He added that he will soon announce the creation of a new party, which will participate in the European and local elections in June.
The German Agency notes, however, that Magyar cannot stand as a candidate in the June 9 European elections with his own party because it is impossible to meet the relevant deadlines, but he is in negotiations with existing parties to be a candidate himself, who predicted that the result of the European elections in Hungary will be “the first nail in the coffin” of the Orbán system.
How he went from being close to Orbán to becoming his opponent
Peter Magyar, 43, is the ex-husband of Orbán’s ex-Justice Minister Judit Varga, who was forced to retire from public life following the scandal over the presidential pardon of a man convicted of child molestation and released from prison.
While long close to the ruling party, Fidesz, Magyar has distanced himself and vowed to challenge Orbán’s “power factory.”
Last month, he released a recording purportedly implicating a top minister in a high-profile corruption case and called on the attorney general to resign.
“Mr. Magyar’s initiative must be supported because with the current opposition there is no hope in the fight against Mr. Orbán,” says 49-year-old cook Leo Sambo, who was among the protesters.
Tamara, 36, who refuses to give her last name, is still “wary” but has come to “do something, because it’s absurd to see what this government has been able to do without worrying.”
Peter Nagy, a 20-year-old student, is ready to give Magyar a chance because the Hungarians have “nothing to lose”.
According to a recent poll, a Magyar formation would garner the support of 11% to 15% of voters.
Source: RES-MPE
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