According to the latest polls Fidesz has somewhere around 30-40% support. But, don’t be fooled — Fidesz still has a huge advantage. They have a supermajority in the parliament meaning they can change laws to suit themselves. They have access to taxpayer funds to support their propaganda machine against Peter Magyar. They have a deeply entrenched apparatus whether you look vertically from the capital city down to village level — or horizontally across all kinds of government functions and departments.
Yes, Hungary is a democracy, but the odds are stacked in Fidesz’s favour so Tisza supporters can’t take a few good polls for granted.
That means, Tisza supporters must take every opportunity to engage with Fidesz supporters and try to bring them into the fold. While you may not be able to convince the true believers, there are still a great deal of Fidesz supporters who can see the state of the country with their own eyes and may be open to swinging away.
Here are some of Fidesz supporters most common arguments, and how you might respond.
He's a traitor, look how he speaks about Hungary at the EU
Some were annoyed at this speech by Peter Magyar at the EU Parliament because he highlighted all the things going wrong un Hungary under the Fidesz government.
Some Fidesz supporters say that you shouldn’t talk badly about the country to an international audience as it gives Hungary a bad reputation.
My counter argument would be that Orban has given Hungary a bad international reputation in some quarters, so if you are worried about the country’s reputation then it’s Orban you need to point the finger at. And, I would say that Peter Magyar’s speech was clearly talking about Orban’s deficits — not Hungary’s. To anyone informed enough and interested enough to be listening to such a speech they would all know that the fault lies with Orban. In addition, my argument would be that you shouldn’t be annoyed at Peter for shining a light on Orban’s bad behaviour you should be annoyed at Orban for behaving so badly.
Peter is the opposite of a traitor – he wants better for Hungary and the Hungarian people. If anyone is a traitor it’s Orban who stole from his own people (more on this later).
He's on the EU's side
No. There is no evidence that Peter is a shill for the EU. Fidesz tries to paint all opposition players as a secret agent for an external force — but this simply doesn’t pass the sniff test. By this argument, literally only Fidesz can be a “real, genuine” Hungarian political player. This is not a reasonable argument, and anyone arguing in good faith would not be able to support this view.
In terms of being pro-European. Yes. The Tisza Party has said that it is pro-European. But so are the overwhelming majority of Hungarians. In 2020, a poll showed that 85% of Hungarians support being a member of the European Union.
No matter the zeitgeist in some conservative circles, which pull towards Russia or China or Trump, an overwhelming majority of Hungarians want to be a part of Europe.
Afterall, Hungarians are European. And anyone thinking rationally knows that Hungary should always steer closer to Western Europe than to the East or Far East.
My argument is that any rational person — and most Hungarians are rational — would pick Hungary being closer to that of Vienna, Zurich or Lisbon over Novosibirsk or Chengdu. With no disrespect intended.
He's a disloyal person...he betrayed his friends in Fidesz
By all accounts, for the longest time, Peter Magyar tried to change hearts and minds inside Fidesz before he spoke out.
Instead of taking heed of some of what he was saying — his views and ideas are clearly popular with Hungarians — they arrogantly side-lined him as not being a team player.
I don’t think being a whistleblower and stepping out to promote something new and better is being disloyal.
I actually think he showing loyalty to Country over Party. Something we need more of — not less of — in politics.
Anyone, who would have wanted Peter to stay quiet and toe the line is essentially saying that you should turn a blind eye to bad behaviour. This is morally wrong.
Where does he get the money from?
In terms of funding, Tisza has released its financials and only receives support from Hungarian citizens either via direct donations or from its merchandise webshop.
Is he woke? Or a lefty?
No. Peter Magyar has described himself as right-leaning conservative multiple times. He comes from a conservative background having been a Fidesz insider for decades. He was married to Fidesz’s Justice Minister Judit Varga. He has held numerous Fidesz-appointed positions. His great-uncle was President Ferenc Mádl who was supported in becoming President by the Orban-led Fidesz Party in the year 2000.
He is a patriot, often reading Hungarian poetry, singing folk songs, wearing traditional dress, and talking about his love of country.
He has not been drawn into any culture-war issues, and has remained focussed on improving the lives of Hungarians: Hospitals, schools, infrastructure, regional development, reducing inflation etc.
I heard he beat his wife
In a tell-all interview that his ex-wife Judit Varga did, she did not paint a great portrait of their married life. It’s safe to say there is a reason why they are divorced.
However, she never said he beat her and anyone repeating this won’t let the truth get in the way of a good story.
What she said was that they were having an argument one night. She was lying on her side on the bed facing away from him. He took off his jeans with the belt still in the loops and as he threw the jeans onto the bed (as you do when you’re undressing) the clasp of the belt hit her back.
I mean have you ever heard of someone belting someone wtih the belt still in the jeans? I mean how ridiculous.
How could he secretly record his wife?
Yes he secretly recorded his wife. But the recordings were of her talking about how corrupt Fidesz is.
I agree that it’s not great the he recorded his wife, BUT equally what she was admitting to on the tape is not great either.
Relationally, it’s horrible that he did that. But an election is about the future of the country — a far bigger and more important issue that someone’s marriage — and on that score what she said on that tape is far more damning about Fidesz than the recording itself is about Peter Magyar.
He'll let immigrants in
No. He has said numerous times that he will retain the southern border (which is where the illegal immigrants come up from). And, he has said that the EU should pay more to support the costs of defending the border becuase it prevents migrants from flowing into all of Europe.
In addition, Peter Magyar has highlighted the tens of thousands of legal immigrants that Fidesz is letting into the country as cheap labour migrant workers.
So although most people see Viktor Orban as anti-immigration and that he supports Hungary just for Hungarians in reality tens of thousands of Asian migrants who have suppressed already-low Hungarian wages and taken opportunities from Hungarians.
He doesn't have a proper political party or aparatus
Don’t underestimate Peter Magyar. All in good time. He has done incredible things in just one year and I have no doubt he will have his ducks in a row come election day.
He is building out his team, has an army of volunteers across the country in the form of “Tisza Islands” (aka Tisza Sziget), and he has gotten high-profile support in the form of Romulusz Ruszin-Szendi — former Chief of the Hungarian Defence Forces.
Yes, he still has the challenging task of finding 106 candidates for each electoral district, but the selection process is already underway. I would rather he take his time — find the right people and vet them properly — than for him to rush forward and make the wrong choice.
In addition, he has said that he will not announce who they are before time because Fidesz will tear them to shreds. Given they will all be relatively new to politics he does not want them to have to face a brutal propaganda machine for longer than necessary.
Yes they will not be as experienced as those in Fidesz but some new faces in Hungarian politics with fresh ideas and new approaches would actually do the world of good. Currently, there are too many rusted on politicians that are too complacent and stuck in their ways to take the country forward.
When it comes to who the 106 local candidates are, I question how much it really matters. In this election — like in many around the world — people will be voting for their preferred leader or their preferred party. Who the local candidate actually is scarcely seems to matter. Most of the time you don’t even know their names. If you asked a Fidesz supporter to name 30 of Fidesz’s members of parliament I bet they couldn’t — hence why my argument is that it doesn’t really matter electorally speaking.
And, finally, Peter being a former Fidesz insider would know many of the competent people in the bureaucracy, and I think he would be smart to retain as many of the good people as possible. No point throwing the baby out with the bathwater.
They're all the same, he'll be no different
I fundamentally disagree with this. I think politicians have a huge impact — whether for better or worse.
There is no reason Hungary needs to be in the state that it’s in. With better governance, turning off the money tap to those who wish to steal it, and a focus on local issues (hospital, schools etc) Hungary can turn things around.
All we need is a Prime Minister who wants to do this. So far, Peter Magyar has shown himself to be extremely competent and I do believe that he will be very different to Orban.
What I would say to this argument is: “Humour me! Vote for Tisza and let’s see!”
He's a psycho / aggressive / arrogant / narcissist / crazy
Peter is very self-confident and doesn’t hide it with faux modesty. This has led to claims of him being arrogant. Obviously, you have to have quite the ego to think you can lead a country — Peter just doesn’t do a very good job of masking it like Orban does.
With regard to him being “Psycho Pete” or crazy, there is no evidence whatsoever … but it’s one of those claims you can make to dismiss someone when you can’t argue with their policies…or defend your own actions.
My main counter-argument to this is: Peter is a tough person — and what Hungary needs now is a tough opposition candidate and then PM who can survive the political battel and then push to implement his reform agenda. If that means he is a forceful leader with extremely high expectations then so be it. What Peter is coming up against is extremely brutal — and some little weakling would have wilted by now.
With regard to him being crazy. Well what does it say that the Justice Minister married a crazy person and that Fidesz gave a crazy person state roles. And what does it say that a crazy person is currently more popular than Orban.
He's on Ukraine's side
In this topsy-turvy world I’m not sure what “being on Ukraine’s side” means exactly. Or what the insinuation is.
Peter has stated the facts: Russia is the aggressor and there must be a just peace.
In terms of Ukraine joining the EU, Peter has stated the obvious: Given the country is at war and given the high bar for joining the EU it would be a decade or more before that is on the cards anyway. In all likeliness, neither Orban or Magyar would be anywhere near politics by the time that is a serious issue for consideration. Peter has said that should it come up during his tenure, he would put it to a referndum anyway.
Where's your evidence that Orban is corrupt?
There has been so much evidence of Orban’s corruption (and that of his family, friends, associates and strawmen) over the years but there are none so blind as those who shall not see.
If you genuinely don’t want to see that Orban is corrupt then you will disregard any of the evidence: His childhood best friend is a billionaire and the richest Hungarian. His dad owns a huge manor without clarity on where the money is from. Fidesz affiliates are always the ones winning government tenders. His kids fly on private jets. His son-in-law is one of the richest people in Hungary. The Hungarian National Bank scandal.
For a quick primeer watch The Dynasty.
But, of course, for people who love Orban the fact that none of this passes the sniff test is a bagatelle. Sadly, for Hungarians, this theft of their money is a tragedy.
Orban is a statesman
One of the reasons, people continue to support Viktor Orban despite everything is that he has that statesman look about him. He has a kind, fatherly look about it. He comes across as both strong and calm. He feels like a safe pair of hands.
But, unfortunately, I see him more as a good actor. Yes, I agree he appears this way, but the reality is that a true statesman does not steal from his countrymen. A true statesman does not let his country rot while he enriches himself. A true statesman puts Country above Party. And Power.
(This article may be updated from time to time after the original publication date)
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