(Bloomberg) -- Support for Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban’s ruling party is eroding further against a group established earlier this year by his main challenger Peter Magyar, an opinion poll showed.
Magyar’s Tisza Party has the backing of 47% of decided voters, with Orban’s Fidesz sliding to 36%, according to the survey by Median and published by the HVG news website Thursday.
It’s the first poll to show Tisza with a double-digit lead over the ruling party, with more than a year before Hungary holds a parliamentary election. Magyar’s faction would be on course to secure a majority of seats in parliament, unseating long-dominant Fidesz, HVG said.
“Hungary has awakened and we’re writing history together,” Magyar wrote in a Facebook post.
Fidesz’s fading support has stoked concern among investors that Orban may put budget targets at risk as he tries to jumpstart the economy, which is currently mired in a recession.
Magyar, a former ruling-party insider, has managed to place Orban under pressure with criticism of widespread alleged corruption and highlighted neglected hospitals, rail networks and schools.
Orban has begun to respond to Magyar’s challenge more directly, but his room for maneuver is curtailed by the ailing economy and a forint trading at a two-year low. Cabinet Minister Gergely Gulyas on Thursday said it was the central bank’s responsibility to stabilize the forint.
Among eligible voters, Tisza led by 34% against 27% for Orban’s Fidesz in the Median poll. The Nov. 20-26 survey polled 1,200 people, with a margin of error of 3%.
The survey signals that Magyar’s popularity has withstood the powerful media apparatus backing the five-term premier, which has unleashed a barrage of attacks on the rising political force.
While Fidesz has faced dipping poll numbers during its 14-year uninterrupted rule, it’s always managed to bounce back. At the same time, it has never before faced a single political party that’s been able to mobilize voters to the extent that Magyar’s Tisza has.
The government for now is trying to keep its cool and project a business-as-usual approach.
“We need to win elections, not polls,” Gulyas said.
--With assistance from Marton Kasnyik and Mark Sweetman.
(Updates with opposition leader Magyar’s comment in fourth paragraph, government in last.)
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