Hungary’s governing and opposition parties staged large, rival rallies on Sunday as they seek to mobilize voters ahead of the closely fought April 12 elections.
The events, held on the country’s national day, set right-wing, pro-Russia Prime Minister Viktor Orbán, 62, against opposition leader Péter Magyar, 44, who hopes to end Orbán’s 16-year rule and offer firmer support to Ukraine.
Orbán’s nationalist Fidesz has trailed Magyar’s centre-right Tisza party in polls since last year and has intensified criticism of Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy.
Orban slams Ukraine, EU
Tens of thousands of government supporters took part in a self-styled “peace march” that crossed the Danube and moved toward parliament in Budapest. In his address, Orbán accused Ukraine of “attacking” Hungary amid a growing dispute between the two countries over Kyiv’s blocking of Russian oil deliveries to Hungary and Hungarian authorities detaining a Ukrainian cash shipment. A banner at the head of the march read, “We won’t be a Ukrainian colony!”
Orbán highlighted perceived dangers facing Hungary — naming war and mass migration — and vowed to “preserve Hungary as an island of security and tranquillity even in such a turbulent world.” He framed the election as a crossroads between Russia and the European Union but insisted he would keep a friendly stance toward the Kremlin. “We will be here even if hundreds of parachutists from Brussels fall from the sky,” he said, referring to the EU institutions, adding that they would be rounded up and sent back, some to Brussels and some to Kyiv.
Magyar envisions pro-Europe future
Across the city, Magyar accused Orbán of inviting Russian agents to try to interfere in the vote and spoke to a crowd estimated at 100,000 at Heroes’ Square. Some of his supporters chanted, “Russians go home.”
“Our homeland is part of the West, our homeland is part of the European community, our country is part of NATO,” Magyar said, adding that this orientation is part of Hungary’s destiny rather than merely the result of treaties. He accused Orbán of clinging to power and turning Hungarians against one another. “Holding onto power at all costs. It is all that matters to him now,” Magyar said, accusing the prime minister of provoking and threatening with war as a way to keep control.
Edited by: Alex Berry