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Hello!

Habár fölűl a gálya, S alúl a víznek árja, Azért a víz az úr!

Petőfi Sándor

My name is Ildi, I’m from Melbourne but lived in Budapest for nine years from 2014 to 2022.

In my experience, Hungary's Prime Minister Orban Viktor acted for himself not the people.

The hospitals looked like Pripyat after Chernobyl. The pays were pretty low. Multinational companies were using educated Hungarians and expats in low-paid "digital sweatshops" as service centres to do the grunt work for their well-paid counterparts in other countries. People were leaving the country in droves – and not for the adventure but for the better pay of other countries. Even educated people were leaving to be cleaners or bartenders in the West. People would miss out on opportunities because someone close to the government was chosen instead. I would hear repeatedly about this or that building in a prime location being given to someone in Orban’s circles.

So far, Orban has had a total of 20 years in power, winning elections in 1998, 2010, 2014, 2018, 2022. He's had clean air for most of that time with 2/3 majorities, loyalty from his own party and no viable opposition. The global economy was pretty great for a big chunk of his time in power. EU money was flowing in. A huge swathe of the general public was supportive of whatever he said. He had money to burn on advertising. His political supporters were in place down to city, town and village level.

Politicians can would kill for this kind of dream run.

Orban could have done so much with all this power and opportunity.

What a disappointment that he used it to enrich himself and his mates, instead of setting Hungary up for long-term success.

Why do I support Magyar Peter?

It seemed nothing would change in Hungary.

And then…

And then literally from one day to the next, along came a guy called Magyar Peter. This website is dedicated to explaining his rise in Hungarian politics and follows the campaign ahead of the 2026 elections.

It’s rare in life that there’s a politician you feel genuinely excited to support. Most of the time, we just go for someone we kind of like more than the other. I teared up when I voted for his party Tisza at the EU Parliamentary elections in 2024 (see the pic to the left).

Orban has had his chance to improve Hungary and in my view he has failed. It’s time to give someone else a go.

But for me, Magyar Peter isn’t just that “someone – anyone — other than Orban”….. I actually agree with many of the things he wants to do. Great – let’s do them.

Why this website?

What an exciting time to be in Hungary! If I could, I’d be on the first plane over to volunteer for the campaign full time until 2026, but unfortunately I’m not in the position to do that right now, so I was thinking about what I could do to support from Australia. 

I realised there’s not much coverage on Magyar Peter in English. Also, there are a lot of second generation Hungarians who want to be informed but don’t speak Hungarian well enough to follow the Hungarian news. Having lived in Hungary for almost nine years but also in the West, I have a unique point of that might be of some interest to some people. Little Hungarian Freedom Fighter.com is my opinion commentary. 

Why Little Hungarian Freedom Fighter?

When I first started following Magyar Peter and I was telling friends about it, they’d say “How’s your little Hungarian freedom fighter going?” And it just stuck.

It’s also apt cause he is kind of “little” and he’s teased because of this.

I just the goose as logo because one of the symbols Tisza uses is based on the “Ludas Matyi” tale whereby a little boy called Matty who sells gees at the market has his geese taken from him by the local lord, but Matty gets back at him.

I chose the teal colour because when I was thinking of what colour reminds me of Hungary, it was the bronze and copper statues and roofs that oxidise and turn green. You can see it on the dome of Buda Castle.

What can you do to help?

Here’s what you can do to support Tisza, and here’s what you can do to support my work on this website.

Most importantly: Every vote counts! So, if you can vote in the 2026 Hungarian elections – it’s time to get informed and vote. Let’s do this!

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