(Bloomberg) -- Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban had a tense confrontation with the opposition on Wednesday as an opinion poll showed the upstart party of his rival Peter Magyar taking its first-ever lead.
The premier launched into his familiar anti-European Union rhetoric on the anniversary of a failed anti-Soviet uprising inside a gated park in central Buda. Hours later, Magyar led thousands of protesters onto the streets before a fiery speech presenting his program.
The duel comes as a survey by 21 Research Center published by the Partizan news website showed Magyar’s Tisza pulling ahead of Orban’s Fidesz after running neck-and-neck in recent polls. It was the first time Fidesz has lost the lead since Orban returned to power in 2010. Tisza’s lead was still within the margin of error.
On Wednesday the forint slid to its weakest against the euro since early last year, as Orban’s unorthodox policies to kickstart the economy before the 2026 election have left Hungary exposed to market swings.
In his speech, Orban tried to portray the new opposition force as subservient to Brussels, just as Hungary was dominated by communists loyal to Moscow before the 1956 uprising. Magyar, a former Orban regime insider, is pledging to steer Hungary back to the European mainstream, though he’s also been trying to strike a patriotic tone similar to Orban’s on several issues.
The premier had to tread carefully after an aide’s gaffe about the 1956 events caused uproar last month. His adviser Balazs Orban, who is unrelated to the premier, claimed that Hungary would have surrendered to invading Russian troops if it were in Ukraine’s position and drew parallels with the crushing of Hungary’s 1956 revolt.
Lost Credibility
These comments were politically charged given that Orban, Russian President Vladimir Putin’s closest ally in the EU, has been blocking EU efforts to boost aid to Kyiv.
Magyar first gathered his supporters outside the foreign ministry, whose head Peter Szijjarto has continued to visit Russia and Belarus after the invasion of Ukraine.
After leading a march, he laid out plans to build his campaign and program for the 2026 ballot, focusing on fixing holes in the education, healthcare and the economy.
“Orban and his people have cheated and misled Hungarian people, including myself earlier,” Magyar said. “They promised to create an affluent, European country here but instead created a ransacked, divided and subjugated society.”
One protester said both Orban and the established left-wing opposition had lost credibility, with the regime discredited by corruption and its anti-EU stance.
“I might have forgiven Orban if his policies had a Euro-Atlantic orientation,” said Zoltan Dioszeghy, 47, a computer salesman from nearby Pest County. “I want change.”
The premier has distanced himself from his aide’s controversial remarks on 1956. However, on Wednesday Viktor Orban reiterated his opposition to military aid for Ukraine in its defense against Russia’s invasion.
“The lesson from 1956 for us is that we must only fight for Hungary and Hungarian freedom,” Orban said. “We won’t take part in anyone else’s war.”
(Updates with quote from opposition leader in 10th paragraph.)
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