Timeline 2024: How Peter Magyar took Hungary by storm

31 December 2024
Ildi Amon

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2024 was nuts… Hungary went from being a country with one boss of everything — Orban — to having two major parties that are now neck-and-neck in the polls.

It can’t be understated what a strange domino of events is taking place to go from Orban’s power being iron-clad to having some upstart from nowhere take the fight right to him.

Almost most every week something significant happened — largely driven by Peter Magyar’s uncanny ability to keep himself in the news cycle. As well as Fidesz tripping over its own shoelaces numerous times — something they have not been known to do.

Here’s a timeline of 2024’s key political events in Hungary.

January

Ho-hum nothing to see here.

February

2 February: This report reveals that President Novak Katlin gave clemency to a peadophile protector
10 February: President Novak Katalin resigns due to the ensuing uproar as does the Justice Minister Varga Judit for her role in counter-signing the clemency. Peter Magyar — Varga Judit’s former husband — puts out an indignant Facebook post resigning from his governmental roles and somewhat defending his ex wife Varga Judit saying that the two women are being made scapegoats.
11 February: Peter Magyar gives this interview on Partizan that kicks off his entire run. It now has 2.6 million views. Having a Fidesz insider speak out against Fidesz and list all the things that the general public can see is wrong draws a huge amount of attention. Having been friendly with a lot of the key people in the government means that he is able to call them out and draw on his personal experiences in the way that other opposition politicians have not been able to in the past. His social media posts around this time are getting 20-30,000 likes and that’s how the ball starts rolling…
16 February: A so-called “influencer protest” is organised by famous Hungarian content creator’s in response to the clemency scandal. Approximately 40,000 people attend.
26 February: Peter Magyar does another lengthy interview to Telex getting 1.7 million views

March

15 March: After announcing it in early March, Peter Magyar gets a huge crowd at his March 15th rally which coincides with the commemoration of Hungary’s 1848 revolution
Peter Magyar uses the rally to announce his Talpra Magyarok! movement
20 March: Peter Magyar heads in to the prosecutor’s office to give evidence on the Schadl-Völner corruption case – you can hear shouts of support in the background, and watch him speaking after coming out here
21 March: HVG has an iconic cover of Peter Magyar “Mr. CleaNER” – NER being a reference to the Fidesz governing elite including the politicians, oligarchs and other business people profiting from it.
26 March: Peter Magyar releases this recording he surreptitiously took of his ex wife. In it she X. He calls together another big protest outside the Prosectur General’s Office for that same night where he speaks twice. Right afterwards he already announces the next rally on April 6th to keep the momentum going.
28 March: Peter Magyar’s ex-wife and former Justice Minister Varga Judit gives an interview detailing their terrible marriage. This follows claims and counter-claims made over several weeks between the pair.
29 March: It was reported by Direkt36 that “Russian state actors hacked into the Hungarian Foreign Ministry’s computer network compromising internal correspondence and even a secure network that transmits classified information. The recurring cyberattacks over the past decade were kept quiet by the Orbán government, and have not been successfully countered.”

April

6 April: Peter Magyar organises another giant rally on Kossuth Square right outside the Parliament. He invites people to bring Hungarian flags, which is a departure because previously Fidesz had taken a ownership of these national symbols. It is estimated that hundreds of thousands of people attend.
Peter Magyar announces he will run at the upcoming European Parliament elections in June.
Within a few days Peter Magyar announces his party will be called Talpra Magyarok Közössége a Tisztelet és Szabadság (TISZA) Párt and reveals its tri-colour infinity logo
11 April: Peter Magyar’s former friend and Fidesz’s Gulyas Gergo makes a bizarre statement at his regular press briefing “Ami most történik, ahhoz nekem nincs közöm. Ha mégis, akkor még nagyon hálásak lesznek nekem. Ezt jól jegyezze meg mindenki!”
17 April: Peter Magyar commences his tour of regional Hungary starting at the historic Gyula Castle in the very east of the country, whether it’s standing on a park bench to talk to 30 people or standing on the back of his pick-up truck “Ricsi” to speak to thousands of people…he is showing he has the energy to pound the pavement and earn people’s vote. No matter how many turn up on the day, tens of thousands are watching live or later on on Facebook and YouTube
During this same time period Peter Magyar starts selecting his candidates for the EU Parliament election – he asks for applications and then the general public can participate by voting for their favourites.
21 April: After trying to discredit him for wearing feminine sunglasses, Peter Magyar decides to auction them for charity making HUF 3 million (about USD 7000) for children in need, showing he is able to turn attacks on their heads and make those making the attacks look petty and small.
24 April: When asked about Peter Magyar, Orban dismisses him “as the Left’s internal problem”
26 April: He keeps the momentum going back in Budapest as well by holding a rally outside the Interior Ministry.
27 April: Peter Magyar and Puzser Robert — one of Hungary’s leading commentators — sit down for a “Hard Talk” interview which gets 2.5 million views on YouTube. By this point it’s hard to deny the sustained level of attention Magyar is getting.

May

5 May: Peter Magyar holds a Mother’s Day rally in Debrecen – incredible given that political events are normally organised on days like Mother’s Day and because Debrecen is a historically pro-Fidesz city known as one of its key political “fortresses”. The main square is packed with tens of thousands of people. By this point it certainly feels like an unstoppable movement.
In Debrecen, signs showing a belt crossed out were posted on lampposts…this was a reference to claims that he threw a pair of jeans on the bed next to his sleeping wife and the buckle from the belt (which was still in the loops) hit her back. MP took it in his stride and posed with the images.
8 May: Incredible scenes in places like Nyiregyhaza where thousands turn out to see MP speak
8 May: The Tisza Part website goes live, and this month they also open an online shop where you can buy branded merch.
30 May: After campaigning for one, there is a debate among the leaders of the various parties contending the EU Parliament elections on state TV. Peter Magyar organises a rally near the venue.

June

6 June: Peter Magyar holds his final stop on his regional tour. It’s in the city of Gyor and once again the main square is packed. For me, it’s one of his most moving speeches about the state of Hungary and the opportunities we could be seizing.
7 June: Peter Magyar posts a photo of himself getting a drug test as a way to draw attention to rumours about his opponent’s drug taking – he calls on Deutsch Tamás to take a drug test also. Again, it’s a great stunt to keep himself and the issues in the media.
Over the course of the campaign MP has shown agility, using different channels like Facebook, YouTube, TikTok, Discord and Instagram to reach people. He’s also really good at quickly throwing together videos like montage videos and videos like this one to continuously communicate to voters in a human way. He’s also holding press conferences, doing media interviews, and doing things like organising tasks for supporters to do like donating clothes to charity or taking part in a petition to keep the momentum going. He seems indefatigable.
7 June: At the same time as the EU elections, there are also Budapest mayoral elections and Fidesz’s candidate Szentkiralyi Alexandra withdraws due to Fidesz’s fears that she will perform poorly. It all plays into the narrative that Fidesz is losing its grip on things. It also plays into a rumour that Peter Magyar has intel from his friends in Fidesz as he claims that this will happen a day before on his Facebook page.
8 June: Peter Magyar holds a big rally at Heroes’ Square to close his EU Parliamentary campaign. Despite the heatwave the square is packed, and Tisza puts on an amazing production. In a sweet touch, afterwards they plant a tree with dirt from all the various parts of Hungary they’ve visited during the campaign. Later in the night, he continues doing digital outreach with this Facebook Live.
8 June: Peter Magyar launches the “Rendszervalto program” (which roughly means “systemic change program”) where you can become a supporting member of his movement.
9 June: Election day! MP keeps on doing Lives all day to get out the vote. The results come in: Fidesz gets 44.6% (11 mandates) and Tisza gets 29.7% (7 mandates) at the EU Parliament. It’s a shockingly good result for a party that has only been around for 3 months. Fidesz’s result is its worst ever in EU Parliamentary elections. Then night of the election, MP holds a party for his supporters. Watch MP’s acceptance speech here.
10 June: Peter Magyar walks out of the studio live on air after facing aggressive questioning from the host Ronai Egon
12 June: Peter Magyar announces his breakup with his girlfriend, Vogel Evelin, with a photo of himself sitting by the water staring off into the distance and a comment like, “something ends and something begins” 🙁 the relationship will come back to haunt him
14 June: Even after the elections less than a we ago, he continues with TikTok and Facebook Lives thanking people and answering their questions at length. He is so personable, informal and authentic. Here is a great example of this.
14 June: The head of the European People’s Party (EPP) in the EU Parliament Manfred Weber visits Budapest to negotiate with MP about Tisza joining the EPP fraction. This is interesting because earlier Fidesz had quit this faction before the EPP could dump it.
17 June: There is a small brouhaha after Peter Magyar asks Facebook followers to vote on whether he should take his place as a representative in the EU Parliament – it’s clear from the phrasing he wants to do it – and this is something Hungarians are annoyed about because Fidesz often does national “surveys” where the questions are phrased in a very pointed way. In the end the vote comes in the he can work in the EU Parliament — as opposed to just staying in Hungary and building his political party.
19 June: Tisza is officially accepted into the EPP
20 June: After winning big at the EU Parliamentary elections Peter Magyar goes to let off steam at the Otkert and is captured sexy dancing with young women, getting into an altercation, being removed by bouncers in a headlock and then throwing someone’s phone into the Danube. It’s not a good look, but MP apologised the next day.
In the weeks after the election, MP has a busy travel schedule heading to Germany for the soccer, Lisbon for a vacation, and Brussels for various meetings.

July

5 July: MP announces that he will give half of his EU Parliamentary salary to charity while the other Tisza representatives will give 500,000 HUF per month to charity.
6 July: MP holds a celebratory rally for members of his “Rendszervalto” program and volunteers through his campaign.
In mid-July Peter Magyar heads to Kyiv, Ukraine after Russia’s bombing of a children’s hospital taking donations, on his way home he visits the western part of Ukraine where many Hungarians live.
13 July: MP heads to EFOTT festival.
15 July: MP in Strasbourg for the first first plenary session of Tisza’s 5-year term. MP claims that Tisza has been given Fidesz’s former offices on the 12th floor while Fidesz is now on the 3rd floor.
15 July: Tisza starts regular “Magyar Info” Lives on YouTube where he talks about the latest news in the campaign.
27 July: MP and his aides row across the Lake Balaton
27 July: Orban makes a thinly veiled reference to Peter Magyar at his annual address at a place called Tusvanyos. In it he dismisses his opponent as slim-fit clothes wearing, avocado latte drinking, health-conscious politicians (“slim-fit szerkós, latte avokádós, mindenmentes, öntetszelgő politikusok”) compared to his salt-of-the-earth politicians. What ensues is Peter Magyar making a slew of jokes including making an avocado latte in his kitchen. In some ways, the slur backfires because it draws attention to healthy vs unhealthy, and Magyar looks decidedly fitter and slimmer than Orban – who is looking more and more like someone with a metabolic disorder sadly.
29 July: Peter Magyar changes his Instagram handle to “The Man” LOL

August

It’s a quiet time of year in Europe with everyone off on their summer vacations. The Paris Olympics is on and Hungary comes in 14th on the medal tally. His ex-girlfriend’s brother Vogel Soma is one of the Olympians which is kind of interesting.
Peter Magyar uses the down-time to take some modelling photos for his future social posts. My favourite one is this one with a doggo.
MP visits a Tisza Sziget meetup at Jászberény and other locations this month. Tisza Szigets (“islands”) are informal groups where people can get together and talk about how they can help support Tisza and what their community’s needs are.
13 August: MP posts an email address on social media asking for people to send in photos or information about the state of hospitals from around the country.
And then, while most other politicians escaped to summer vacation, Peter Magyar makes it his mission to draw attention to the horrendous conditions in many Hungarian hospitals. I would liken it to Pripyat after Chernobyl. Dilapidated buildings. Lifts that don’t work. Air-conditioning that’s given up during one of Hungary’s hottest heatwaves on record. Lack of staff. Mold and grime. Long wait times. Beyond becoming a talking point among Hungarians, the hospital tour also led to one of the iconic phrases of 2024. When asked about the mold on the walls, Government Spokeswoman Vitalyos Eszter claimed it was actually just dust on oil stains (“zsírra szállt por”).
20 August: MP takes part in a fun run on Margaret Island, and hosts a picnic on the island for fans to commemorate St Stephen’s Day.
27 August: MP announces the “Ludas Matyi Alap” – a foundation where people can contribute to charitable projects and where MP himself is putting half of his EU Parliamentary salary.
29 August: MP announces an “Immunity Program” where people who are somehow linked to or have knowledge of the NER can act as whistleblowers around things like corruption and abuse of power.
Toward the end of the year MP changes gears and starts looking at the issues with the dilapidated train and rail network in Hungary.

September

MP starts the month in the city of Szeged continuing to show that he’s out and about in regional Hungary.
In his usual style, Peter Magyar posts most days with a “letter” to various politicians, heads of public services, or people in the media about things they are doing wrong. It’s a good way to highlight various issues and publicly hold people to account.
MP’s focus area at the start of the month is rail infrastructure and the state of trains and stations. Each day he highlights various issues on social media, and even records Lives while on various trains.
7 September: MP heads to the Szolnok goulash festival and does a speaking engagement at the local Tisza Sziget.
MP reports winning some law suits against media publications that made false claims about him about his behaviour with girls on the infamous night out at the Ötkert nightclub.
15 September: Orban hits the gym with Arnold Schwartzenegger and Magyar hits the gym in return. The fitness comparison does not favour Orban.
In the second half of the month, the Danube floods and both Orban and Magyar visit affected areas. The only difference is that Magyar actually helps for several days shovelling mud and packing sand bags whereas Orban just makes a pass through. According to MP more than 1000 volunteers join Tisza’s work.
21 September: In a strange turn of events MP posts a photo from his 25-year high school reunion with Mráz Ágoston who heads the Nézőpont Intézet — a polling company that is not exactly neutral in many people’s eyes.
The quarterly financial report is released. You can see income and expenses on the Transparency page of the Tisza website.
25 September: Peter Magyar’s ex-girlfriend Vogel Evelin gives an interview making allegations about her experiences with him. MP counter-claims that she has been extorting him/Tisza for months asking for HUF 30 million. He also claimed that when this was rejected, Vogel went to Fidesz and offered to give a disparaging interview and release tapes in exchange for money.
After more than 200 days of the state-run TV not inviting MP in for an interview (despite everything that has happened since February), they invite him in just after he announced a protest outside their studios for early October.
26 September: Orban Balazs – Orban’s Political Director and no relation to Orban V (that’s too bad, Balazs) – gives an interview essentially calling the 1956 Hungarian revolutionaries fools for standing up to Russia. It’s a wild point of view, considering Fidesz sees itself as “street fighters” akin to those exact revolutionaries. It also couldn’t have been worse timing because it buried the Vogel Evelin story, and is mere weeks out from the country’s October 23 commemorations of said revolution.
Toward the end fo the month, MP continues to head to various spots in regional Hungary, including Dabas and Császár.

October

The fallout from Orban Balazs’s comments continues. MP makes an unforced error by stating that the flag that is used as a symbol of the 56 revolution is now a Tisza symbol. These national symbols are everyone’s — not one party or the other so this idea was quietly dropped.
He continues visiting small towns in regional Hungary, starting off in Hármas-Körös in the East, and later in the month at Ajka in the East.
5 October: Peter Magyar holds a protest against government propaganda in front of the state media MTVA headquarters. MTVA is taxpayer funded but takes Fidesz’s side.
8 October: This guy is as tough as nails. At this European Parliamentary sitting, he literally talks about the guy sitting directly behind him saying that a couple of weeks back he abused a girl while drunk in a bar. Jeezus!
9 October: Peter Magyar speaks at the European Parliament for the first time. Watch the speech. An iconic photo is taken with Magyar walking over to shake Orban’s hand. In a funny moment, we can see Deutsch Tamas (Fidesz’s leader in the EU Parliament) practicing his speech on the sidelines.
The state media makes a big deal out of Peter Magyar adjusting his privates while he is standing in the auditorium of the EU Parliament…in response he poses with bananas in his kitchen. He also makes this hilarious smoothie video with some references to the size of his banana 😉
Mid-month MP flies to Brussels to perform in his role as Vice Chair of the European Parliament’s Committee on Constitutional Affairs.
Then he heads to Slovenia to speak to the New Slovenia Christian Democratic Party.
18 October: Peter Magyar shows us his pancake-making skills.
23 October: The day starts with a poll published by Partizan and taken by 21 Kutatóközpont showing that the Tisza Part has pulled ahead of Fidesz. It’s the first time an opposition party has polled ahead of them in 18 years.
23 October: Commemorations of the 1956 revolution start by MP laying a wreath. Then there is a huge rally at on Margit körút outside the Mammut shopping mall. At this rally he also announces that Tisza is now taking applications for future leaders of the Party as well as its candidates for the next elections.
The next day MP is already off to Vienna to meet the local Tisza sziget
Next up he’s back home showing off his gardening skills
Then he’s off to the famous Sausage Festival in Bekescsaba
And I’m not quite sure why but he also puts out a vide carving a pumpkin
He heads to Cegléd to pass on donations to the children’s ward of the local hospital.

November

3 November: In commemoration of the 1956 revolution being quashed, Peter Magyar heads to Kiskunmajsa in southern Hungary to the memorial of Gergely Pongrátz — one of the leaders of the revolution.
It’s revealed that Orban said something along the lines of “If you think Romania is doing better than Hungary, you can move there.” It touches a nerve because loathed former Prime Minister Gyurcsany Ferenc was once attacked for saying that if companies don’t want to pay taxes in Hungary they can leave.
Peter Magyar meets the Austrian Chancellor Karl Nehammer and French President Emmanuel Macron
11 November: Peter Magyar pre-emptively reveals that this coming week Fidesz will publish secretly recorded tapes made by his ex-girlfriend Vogel Evelin. By going ahead of the story, it takes the steam out of what could be uncomfortable listening. He also claims that some of the recordings are AI generated, which muddies the water further. The question of a mole in Fidesz is raised as otherwise how did Peter Magyar know what would be happening?
In other tapes, Tisza officials record Vogel trying to extort money from Tisza. It’s also revealed that she is getting paid by those close to Fidesz and is living in an apartment owned by someone close to Fidesz.
The tapes are not pretty listening on either side. More tapes are delivered to journalists in the coming days/weeks. In one recording taken from early in the year, a hot and bothered Peter can be heard calling some of his supporters smelly and with bad breath. It’s a sign of the times that none of the recordings make a real dent.
To show he is getting on with the job amid these recording dramas, MP and the Tisza Party head to Brussels for work and announce the they’ll be continuing with a second tour of regional Hungary.
Peter then heads to Poland where he stands in a Lidl and does a price comparison of things like sugar.
Late November, MP restarts his regional tour where he criss-crosses Hungary holding rallies in meeting rooms, sports halls and squares. Incredibly, even in the cold weather thousands of people turn out to hear him speak.
As part of the tour, he puts the spotlight on the state of children’s care homes; he runs a Christmas gift collection drive for the kids; and he publishes damning photos of the dilapidated state of the bathrooms in a child’s home he visits in Miskolc.
After publishing those photos, he is banned from visiting other state-run homes and this turns into a series of conflicts with various officials. In theory, it’s his right as an EU Parliamentarian to be able to go in.
The Tisza Party says it will repair the bathrooms in the Miskolc children’s home out of its own donations — if it is allowed to by the government
Toward the end of the month Peter Magyar announces his new commemorative coffee table book that covers the first year of the Tisza Party and that you can buy here.
Despite a turbulent month, in a Median poll published at the end of the month Tisza leads Fidesz by 11% among those who say they will definitely vote.

December

Continuing on from November, Peter Magyar continues to visit villages and towns in regional Hungary, and trying to get into government-run children’s care homes to put a spotlight on the conditions. He has collected gift for the kids as part of Tisza’s “Angel’s from Heaven” donations program but Fidesz blocks the gifts from being passed on.
3 December: Fidesz’s Communications Director, Tamas Menczer, tries to intimidate Peter Magyar while he is outside a children’s home trying to hand over donated gifts. He gets in Magyar’s face and utters the now infamous line “Vége van, kicsi!” (translates to: “It’s over, little guy!”). The scene causes a big reaction with many criticising Menczer for his aggression. The “Vége van, kicsi!” line now takes its place in memorable quips in Hungarian politics.
Peter Magyar visits the UK and meets former Prime Minister David Cameron, speaks to Tisza supporters, and visits state-run institutions
Peter Magyar heads to Slovakia to meet with Tisza supporters living there and to meet its former Prime Minister Ódor Lajos — the first Slovak Prime Minister from the ethnic Hungarian minority. You can listen to their discussion here
9 December: In an interview on ATV’s Egyenes Beszed, Lazar Janos, admits that Fidesz is “shaken” since Peter Magyar’s arrival
10 December: Politico names Peter Magyar one of the 28 most influential people in Europe in the Disruptor category as “The Challenger”
13 December: Viktor Orban announces that next year will be a “fantastic year” for Hungary and that the country will get off to a “flying start”…and then takes a big gulp of water. Watch it from 5:57 here.
The Tisza Party’s official 2024 recap coffee table book is published and MP does book signings.
The Tisza Party hands out the Christmas gifts to others in need across the country — given the government blocked the gifts from being given to children in state-run homes.
23 December: Peter Magyar and the Tisza Part host several food kitchens for homeless people.
25 December: Peter Magyar posts a video recapping why he launched his political career
25 December: On Christmas Day, Peter Magyar posted a Facebook photo with two of his kids, and it got a whopping 159,000 likes (at the time of writing this). What a way to end the year! Usually, his posts get around 20-30-40k likes, but this hits it out of the park.
Technically, this is a 2025 thing, but in late December the President announced he would not do the traditional midnight address on New Year’s Eve that Presidents have always done for decades. So whaddayaknow, who’s willing to jump in a take over? It’s The Man himself Peter Magyar. Watch his midnight address here. Within a day it already had a million views meaning he kicked off the new year leading the news cycle.

Little Hungarian Freedom Fighter wishes you a very Merry Christmas with the below video. See you in 2025, it’s gonna be a big one!

Go to the 2025 timeline