Rival Rallies Test Hungary’s Political Mood Ahead of 2025 Vote

Tens of thousands of Hungarians filled the streets of the capital on Wednesday for rival rallies led by Prime Minister Viktor Orbán and his chief challenger, Péter Magyar, in what observers see as the first major test of strength ahead of next year’s general election.

The duelling demonstrations were held on October 23, a national holiday marking the anniversary of Hungary’s failed 1956 uprising against Soviet rule, a symbolic date for a nation long divided over questions of sovereignty and identity.

Orbán, who has governed for nearly 15 years and turned Hungary into one of Europe’s most nationalist and Russia-friendly states, faces his toughest challenge yet. Recent independent polls show Magyar’s Tisza party narrowly leading Orbán’s ruling Fidesz, though government-aligned think tanks insist the prime minister still holds the edge. The election is expected in April.

Addressing supporters at what Fidesz billed as a “peace march,” Orbán delivered a fiery speech denouncing Brussels and renewing his call for Hungary to remain “a lone voice for peace” in Europe.

He praised his backers for keeping “Hungary’s Christian, conservative, and national government in power for 16 years,” declaring that the country had remained “Europe’s only migrant-free nation.” He accused the European Union of “dragging Europe into war” in Ukraine and claimed that “if Donald Trump had been president, this war would never have broken out.”

Orbán, once an anti-communist dissident who has since become the EU’s most Moscow-friendly leader, warned that Brussels had “turned the war in Ukraine into its own war,” spending €185 billion “on a hopeless conflict.”

Fidesz had predicted record turnout for its rally, but the event was overshadowed by reports that a meeting between Donald Trump and Vladimir Putin in Budapest — touted as a diplomatic coup for Orbán — would not take place.

Across town, chants of “Russians, go home” — echoing the slogan of the 1956 revolution — rang out from the opposition’s rally, where Péter Magyar portrayed Orbán as “the Kremlin’s most loyal ally.”

Magyar, a former government insider turned critic, accused the prime minister of betraying the spirit of 1956 by siding with Moscow and isolating Hungary from its European partners. He pledged to restore Hungary to the political mainstream of the EU and to reverse Fidesz’s sweeping nationalist overhaul, which has led Brussels to suspend billions of euros in funding over corruption and rule-of-law concerns.

“Today’s Hungary,” Magyar said, “faces the same kind of oppression we rose up against 69 years ago — only this time, it wears Hungarian colors.”

Six months before the vote, analysts say the contest remains wide open. Independent pollsters give Magyar’s Tisza party a slight lead, while pro-government institutes expect another Fidesz victory.

One in four voters, however, remains undecided — a critical bloc that helped Orbán secure a surprise win in 2022 despite united opposition efforts.