In theory, the Hungarian election is meant to take place in April 2026. That means, unless Prime Minister Viktor Orban decides to bring it forward (if he thinks it will give him a better chance of winning) or delay it (which would be highly unusual and sneaky) there is exactly one year to go until election day.
Here are 12 of the challenges, Peter Magyar has to overcome in the next 12 months to give him the best shot of winning:
1. Pick Tisza's 106 candidates
The number one challenge is to pick 106 candidates to stand in the 106 voting districts. Peter Magyar has already said that Tisza will put forward candidates in all 106 districts, and that it will not make a deal with or coordinate with any current opposition candidates (i.e. it will not pull out in a specific district where an opposition candidate is strong).
Picking 106 people who are popular in the local area, who are politically savvy enough not to make any big blunders, who don’t have links to any of the existing parties, and who don’t have any skeletons in the closet is a huge challenge that Peter will have to overcome.
2. Withstand Fidesz's attempts to attack his character
Fidesz and its propaganda arm have tried to assassinate Peter Magyar’s character positioning him as a wife beater, a bad dad, a shill for the EU, a traitor etc. They have orchestrated tell-all interviews with both his ex-wife and ex-girlfriend. Secret recordings have been released of his private conversations to try to embarass him.
So far, he has seemed to relish the opportunity to defend himself and go on the attack himself. When they tried to insinuate he beat his ex-wife with a belt (he didn’t and she never said that he did), he post with his belt in front of posters of his belt. When the public media tried to say that he was adjusting his privates inappropriately at the EU Parliament he posted photos of himself with a banana.
Each time, he seems to have been emboldened and his support amongst voters only increases. He has an incredible ability to not be shamed but rather to address the issue and move on to his agenda.
But, there are 12 months to go and no doubt it takes its toll. His challenge will be to remain strong in the face of these attacks and continue to bat them back with elan and press on.
3. Avoid talking down to Fidesz voters
Hillary Clinton fell in the trap of calling voters deplorable as she couldn’t comprehend anyone supporting Trump. Viktor Orban has recently called opposition voters stink bugs.
A challenge Peter Magyar faces is not saying something negative about Fidesz voters. He has said many times “There’s no Left or Right, just Hungarian” and he needs to continue in this approach.
Given he himself comes from a Fidesz background I think he can avoid doing this because he probably feels an affinity to Fidesz supporters still (as a former one himself) BUT still when frustrations mount it’s easy for politicians to fall in this trap.
Tisza supporters could probably hede this too — the Party needs all the votes it can get, so a better approach is to be understanding and welcoming.
4. Ensure Tisza's candidates don't misspeak
Recently, one of Tisza’s EU Parliament MPs, Kinga Kollar, spoke in a way that could be misunderstood during one of the parliamentary hearings. She essentially said that the EU withholding funds from Hungary had deteriorated the quality of life and that although this is horrible for the Hungarian people, it will help the Tisza Party in the upcoming elections because dissatisfaction with Fidesz is high.
This kind of comment gives Fidesz an opening to paint Tisza as being in cahoots with the EU to “ruin” Hungary.
With its existing EU Parliament representatives, cast of campaign surrogates AND 106 district candidates the risk of this grows a thousand fold. Especially as they will all be off doing press interviews, writing social posts, speaking to constituents etc in the lead-up to the election.
The Tisza Party’s key challenge is to effectively media train all these people and ensure they can communicate the talking points clearly.
5. Avoid being painted as a woke, lefty, globalist, EU shill
Fidesz is obsessed with painting itself as the only party that could possibly be patriotic. It has a famous line: “The home can’t be in opposition.” In other words — Fidesz is “the home.” To which Peter says “the Home cannot be in opposition, but Fidesz can!”
All past opposition parties have always been effectively painted as woke, lefty, globals, or shills for the EU or Soros.
This is catnip to a lot of voters who want Hungary to remain, as Orban puts it, “sovereign.”
Peter Magyar himself came from Fidesz. He is a conservative. He dresses in traditional dress. He recites Hungarian poems. He shows a genuine knowledge of regional Hungary. He spends more time in villages and towns than in the capital city. He doesn’t get dragged into “lefty” topics like Pride. He wants to retain the southern border fence. He is a proud Christian. He is transparent that he does not accept any non-forint donations.
His challenge will be to continue along this path: Remaining pro-Europe (as the overwhelming majority of Hungarians are) while not seeming to be in anyone’s pocket.
6. Avoid getting dragged into global politics
One of the most annoying things about Viktor Orban is that he is too focussed on global politics and not on local issues: Schools, hospitals, regional development, infrastructure, better-paying jobs, reducing inflation etc.
He seems to be totally bored of dealing with the hard and unsexy work of fixing the healthcare system. He’d rather be flitting off to Mar-a-Lago or doing interviews with Tucker Carlson.
But there’s a famous saying in the US: All politics is local. And I think that’s true.
Peter has had great success so far because he has really honed in on local issues and avoided getting too dragged into global issues like the US election, Israel-Palestine and Russia-Ukraine.
People want their Prime Minister focussed on them and the issues affecting their families. And dropping the ball on that can result in big problems.
Peter’s challenge will be to avoid getting dragged into these global stories and remain focussed on what counts most to most people: Their immediate surrounds, and their lives and that of their families.
7. Show a stable hand and a level head
Peter is a strong-willed character. You can tell that he is extremely opinionated and would have very high expectations of those around him.
During press interviews he talks very fast and stridently to the point where it can sometimes be out of balance with the more chilled host. He is also big on correcting the interviewer (e.g. if they use the wrong grammar he will point it out) — this can be awkward for the watcher as it makes Peter look too aggressive for the context.
He needs to show his kind and compassionate side, as well as match his intensity during press interviews with the host so it doesn’t seem like he is steam rolling the situation.
I’ve noticed that when he posts a video of himself laughing and making jokes, or photos with his kids or girlfriend the engagement on Facebook is through the roof. People want to see more of the “human” side of Peter and his challenge is to balance being strong and aggressive when needed and kind and relatable the rest of the time.
8. Keep ego in check
All politicians have giant egos. You have to, to believe that you are the one that could gain enough support to lead a whole country.
His challenge will be remaining humble in light of increasing success and adoration, because no one wants an arrogant Prime Minister (we already have one of those).
9. Keep Fidesz guessing
One of Peter’s greatest skills is that he is always doing something new and unexpected. For example, at Easter instead of just posting a bland “Happy Easter” message, he went to Holloko where they have a famous Easter tradition of the men throwing buckets of water on the young women. He posted photos and videos of himself dressed in folk costume and throwing water on his girlfriend as is the tradition.
Another example is when he announced out of the blue that he would run as a candidate in Budapest’s 3rd voting district — the same district where both he and Orban live. Or when the President announced that he wouldn’t be doing a New Year’s Eve address — Peter jumped in and said he would do the address himself.
His challenge is to keep leaving these little “Easter eggs” making Fidesz look flat-footed in the process.
10. Prevent in-fighting amongst Tisza supporters
Lots of people are joining the Tisza movement and want to find a role to play. The Party’s leadership must find a way to harness this enthusiasm while preventing the kind of in-fighting that spills into the open in a really destructive way.
With a lot of new people working together — and the stakes being as high as they are — it’s natural that human relationships will fray and may lead to rather fraught disagreements. This is a huge challenge that needs to be controlled while keeping people working as harmoniously together as possible toward the primary goal: Winning the election first then good governance thereafter.
11. Give volunteers a clear role to play
Many people both in Hungary and abroad will be wanting to support Tisza as volunteers. There is a lot of work to be done, and ensuring that all of those tasks are effectively assigned and then completed will be critical.
You’d hate to think there are willing helpers left sitting idle and wondering what to do, equally organising huge numbers of people is a big job.
Giving people clear instructions on tasks to do that don’t require Tisza officials to be directly involved could be a great way to do this. Some examples might include: Print off 100 of these downloadable flyers and then hand them out to your neighbours; Organise a Tisza event to raise donations for the Party — everyone bring a friend; Or organise carpools take people to the next nearest event.
People want to feel part of the movement and may feel unsure how to get involved, so harnessing this enthusiasm will be critical.
12. Do not break up with girlfriend
This might sound like an odd one but hear me out. Peter’s ex-wife Judit Varga did a tell-all interview. Peter’s ex-girlfriend Evelin Vogel did a tell-all interview. When Peter announced his new girlfriend is his assistant Ilona Szabo I though “please, please, please just don’t record each other and don’t break up before the election.” The collective nervous system of Tisza supporters could not handle another round of revelations in a tell-all interview.
Fingers crossed they stay together!!!!
(This article may be updated from time to time after the original publication date)
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