Meet the very heterogeneous opposition to Hungarian Viktor Orban

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On the agenda of his visit to Hungary on Monday, President Emmanuel Macron is due to meet members of the opposition. Divided for a long time, the latter managed to unite in the hope of dislodging Fidesz, Viktor Orban’s party, during the legislative elections in 2022. This circumstantial union unites the left with right-wing parties, and of far right. Our special envoys Gulliver Cragg and Balint Bardi went to meet leaders of this motley coalition.

In Hungary, the opposition to Prime Minister Viktor Orban is at the origin of an unprecedented coalition: the socialist Roland Marton, the Catholic conservative Peter Marki-Zay, and the far-right nationalist Attila Fakazas.

The three men, who rallied to the Green party, united in a clear objective: to counter Fidesz, Viktor Orban’s party, lambasting in the heart the corruption or restriction of freedoms of which the Hungarian power is accused. So much so that for Peter Marki-Zay, united opposition candidate for the post of Prime Minister, the real question of these elections is none other than “for or against Fidesz?”.

Unite to beat Viktor Orban

“The diversity of this coalition is surprising,” concedes Roland Marton, United opposition candidate for the post of deputy (socialist party MSZP). “But faced with an electoral system designed to favor Fidesz, and to undermine the foundations of parliamentary democracy, the oppositions have no other alternative but to form a common front if they want to hope to beat the party in power”

“The media are 90% controlled by Fidesz”, regrets Peter Marki-Zay. In fact, for the far-right candidate, only a field campaign can directly inform citizens, far from the disinformation campaigns orchestrated, according to him, by the state.

A strategy that seems to hit the mark with some supporters of the conservative candidate, such as Robert Sudar, who sees in Peter Marki-Zay “the most charismatic leader that the opposition has found since 2010”

Part of the opposition has the hope that a Catholic like Peter Marki-Zay is more likely to win over the campaign electorate than candidates more to the left.

For Viktor Orban voters, Peter Marki-Zay is just “a joke”. Orban’s victory is assured, according to pastry chef Erzsebet, who is delighted: the current Prime Minister remains, according to him, “the best person to represent the Hungarians.”

The polls put Fidesz neck and neck with the opposition. But even if he lost his majority in Parliament, breaking the hold of Viktor Orban’s party over the state apparatus and the media would be a very difficult challenge to overcome. All the more so, for a coalition as heterogeneous as that of Peter Marki-Zay.