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 Magyar Peter’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. Magyar Peter — 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.
- 12 February: Magyar Peter 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.
- 27 February: Magyar Peter does another lengthy interview to Telex getting 1.7 million views
March
- 15 March: After announcing it in early March, Magyar Peter gets a huge crowd at his March 15th rally which coincides with the commemoration of Hungary’s 1848 revolution
- Magyar Peter uses the rally to announce his Talpra Magyarok! movement
- 20 March: Magyar Peter 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 Magyar Peter “Mr. CleaNER” – NER being a reference to the Fidesz governing elite including the politicians, oligarchs and other business people profiting from it.
- 26 March: Magyar Peter 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: Magyar Peter’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: Magyar Peter 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.
- He announces he will run at the upcoming European Parliament elections in June.
- Within a few days Magyar Peter announces his party will be called Talpra Magyarok Közössége a Tisztelet és Szabadság (TISZA) Párt and reveals its tri-colour infinity logo
- 11 April: Magyar Peter’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: Magyar Peter 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 Magyar Peter 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, Magyar Peter 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 Magyar Peter, 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: Magyar Peter 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: Magyar Peter 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. Magyar Peter organises a rally near the venue.
June
- 6 June: Magyar Peter 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: Magyar Peter 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 Magyar Peter has intel from his friends in Fidesz as he claims that this will happen a day before on his Facebook page.
- 8 June: Magyar Peter 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: Magyar Peter 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: Magyar Peter walks out of the studio live on air after facing aggressive questioning from the host Ronai Egon
- 12 June: Magyar Peter 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 Magyar Peter 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 Magyar Peter 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 Magyar Peter 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 Magyar Peter 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 Magyar Peter 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: Magyar Peter 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.
- Magyar Peter 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. Tisza Szigets are informal groups where people can get together and talk about how they can help support Tisza and what their communities need.
- 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, Magyar Peter 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
- 15 September: Orban hits the gym with Arnold Schwartzenegger and Magyar hits the gym in return
- The Danube floods and both Orban and Magyar hit the banks to help protect the homes and businesses in the affected areas
- 25 September: Magyar Peter’s ex-girlfriend Vogel Evelin gives an interview making allegations about her experiences with him
- 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. Beyond the obvious misstep because Fidesz sees itself as “street fighters” born from the revolution, it have been worse timing because it is mere weeks out from the country’s October 23 commemorations of said revolution. It means everyone’s extra fired up and even more willing to go to Magyar’s commemorative rally.
October
- 6 October: Magyar Peter holds a protest against state-run propaganda media in front of the state media MTVA headquarters
- 9 October: Magyar Peter 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.
- The state media makes a big deal out of Magyar Peter adjusting his privates while he is standing in the auditorium of the EU Parliament…in response he poses with bananas and makes eggplant dip in his kitchen in a reference to the eggplant emoji euphemism
- MP ends the month by going to the famous Sausage Festival in Bekescsaba
November
- 18 November: Magyar Peter holds a press conference in which he reveals that soon secretly-recorded tapes will be revealed showing that he has insider information from Fidesz.
- Magyar Peter continues his tour of regional Hungary. Incredibly, even in the cold weather thousands of people turn out for his rallies
December
- Magyar Peter publishes a coffee table book recapping the year. You can buy it here.
- Throughout the month, Magyar Peter continues to visit villages and towns in regional Hungary, and trying to get into government children’s care homes to draw light to the conditions within them. 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 tries to intimidate Magyar Peter while he is outside a children’s home trying to hand over donated gifts. He gets in Magyar’s face and utters the memorable line “Vege van, kicsi!” (It’s over, little guy!”)
- In early December, Politico names Magyar Peter one of the 28 most influential people in Europe in the Disruptor category as The Challenger
- Magyar Peter visits London, including meeting former Prime Minister David Cameron and meeting Hungarian supporters living in England
- 13 December: Orban Viktor announces that next year will be a “fantastic year” for Hungary…and then takes a big gulp of water. Watch it from 5:57 here.
- 25 December: On Christmas Day, Magyar Peter 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 boost to end the year with this show of support. For a politician, his posts always get around 20k likes, but this hits it out of the park.
- Technically, this is a 2025 thing, but in late December the new President announced he would not do the traditional midnight address on New Year’s Eve, so whaddayaknow, who’s willing to jump in a take over? It’s The Man himself Magyar Peter. 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.
See you in 2025! It’s gonna be a big one.
