This is a personal account from a British/Hungarian citizen detailing how the small country of Hungary voted out the autocratic ruler Orbán, despite all his machinations, including Russian and US support.
I had to get my vote
As a Hungarian citizen, I had a vote in the 12 April elections. Like every winter in the last four years, I was still in Spain in April, but planned to drive the 2600km to Hungary in time for the elections. Anyone who has a resident address in Hungary can vote twice: once for a candidate, and once for a party.
Sadly, the local council did not process my online voter application properly, and to get at least one vote for a party, I had to travel to the nearest Hungarian consulate. I was lucky to get a last-minute appointment, where I had to drive to Malaga, around 500km from where I was staying in Los Alcázares. This was quite an expense with the new diesel prices, but I was determined to give my vote towards ousting Orbán. If he won the election, I would have never forgiven myself for not voting.
Voting at the Malaga consulate
For my trip to Malaga in my large and unyielding campervan, I had to find a caravan park with transport to the consulate in the city centre. Due to delays during my drive, I had to get a taxi in the end. Again, a cost I hadn’t budgeted for, but I had to make sure I was on time for my appointment.
The voting itself was easy and took only ten minutes. The officials checked my ID in the back office to see if I was entitled to vote, then handed me an envelope with the voting sheet and instructions. I asked the receptionist how many people had registered to vote at this consulate, to which she told me there were 30% more requests than in the last elections in 2022. That was encouraging to hear.
Election Day
I returned to Los Alcázares caravan park the next day, and a week later, it was election day. Fellow campers who knew that I was of Hungarian descent told me they were rooting for the opposition, and suddenly, I got a lot of attention. A young Danish man, whom I had known for a couple of years, came up to me on the morning of the election and gave me a big hug. The world seemed to watch election day with abated breath.
The day passed very slowly, and the night, even slower. The first results came in around midnight. They surpassed my expectations. The turnout was over 75%, and Tisza reached the optimal result of a two-thirds majority. This meant that they had the mandate to bring in the changes which they had promised in their campaign. Heartfelt congratulations from heads of state and international organisations poured in. Peter Magyar and his team were the heroes of the day.
I wished I could have been in Budapest in time to take part in the joyous night of celebrations which greeted the election results. The whole capital was on the streets, strangers were hugging each other, and the now viral video of the future minister for health, Dr Hegedus, dancing at the front of the stage with all the future ministers will go down in Hungarian history.
Peter Magyar
Since Peter Magyar’s interview on Partizán independent media, promising that he will leave his Orbán supporting group Fidesz, I have observed him grow from a businessman and lawyer into a skilled campaigner for Hungarian liberation from corruption and autocracy. People asked him what he thinks his success is based on, and his simple answer is, ‘the people’.
Magyar visited over 500 towns and villages last year. Right until election day, he held rallies in as many as five different locations. His energy and commitment, helped by his inside knowledge of how Fidesz operates, is remarkable. He knew that national TV and radio, local mayors, and businessmen were all owned by Orbán and his Fidesz party. But Orbán relied on messages of international threats, and people were tired of the propaganda which ignored their local issues. Especially young people wanted a radical change.
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There were several abuse scandals in children’s homes during a government that stressed family values. The overt enrichment of Orbán’s circle reached billions, and the corruption never mentioned in the national media was laid bare on social media. I described the degree of theft and fraud in my article on Orbán and his circle.
Magyar built up a large network of local volunteers who prepared the ground for his rallies. In his speeches and his actions, Magyar connected with the people. He handed out loo paper to local hospitals, firewood to poor communities where people couldn’t heat their homes in -20 degrees, and listened to everybody who had something to say. He walked into the crowd, shook hands, greeted the elderly respectfully, and took selfies with anybody who asked him to. He was dressed casually and allowed local government supporters to ask questions as well, and often answered attacks on his integrity.
Magyar himself admits that he has learned a lot during his campaigning. He often reacted to taunts with a practised calmness which he didn’t possess at the start of his political career. He has a very good backup team of volunteers, but no visible security guards. I have often worried about eventual physical attacks on him, but Hungary is not the US. Orbán supporters are not like MAGA or a Tommy Robinson crowd, although during Orbán’s campaign meetings, opposition protesters were kept away and very little violent behaviour was seen. There were a few mentally unstable characters shouting abuse, but since Magyar’s volunteers seem to have been trained to keep their cool and the police kept neutral and arrested trouble makers, the rare situation was resolved quickly.
Hungarian Media
In my article last month on Peter Magyar’s prospects in the elections, I described some of the smear campaigns and fear-mongering by Orbàn’s campaign. Thankfully, enough people seem to have seen through the lies and propaganda for the enormous growth of the new Tisza party of Peter Magyar. In his many speeches during his visits to towns and villages, he asked people to behave with respect, keep their cool and encouraged them not to be afraid. Thankfully, people stood up to be counted.
Hungarians Abroad
There are roughly two million Hungarian citizens living abroad, which is a large percentage for a country with under ten million inhabitants. Some of their votes hadn’t been counted yet when the opposition already reached the two-thirds majority needed to put an end to Orbán’s 16-year authoritarian rule. But after the count, it was declared that their votes put four new MPs into Parliament.
Tisza Islands
The Hungarian opposition party led by Peter Magyar established a large network of volunteer campaigners, called the Tisza islands (sziget). They numbered around 2000 by the time of the elections on 12 April, with a total membership of nearly 50,000 people. The islands were established as local communities primarily in Hungary, and to a lesser extent, among Hungarians living abroad.
Facebook groups were established in all parts of the world with a Hungarian diaspora. In the UK, there are several groups in London, one in Liverpool, one in Manchester, one in Glasgow, and a general UK-wide group. The future Foreign Minister and second-in-command has visited all these communities before the election.
Poetry and Music
The day before the election saw a large anti-Orbán music festival in Budapest. It attracted a huge crowd of young people.
One of the nation’s most famous poets, Sandor Petőfi, wrote lyrics which were quoted at the beginning of the Hungarian revolutions. His words ‘stand up Hungarians’ (Talpra Magyar!) were used in 1848 in the fight against the Austrian Empire, in 1956 in the revolution against Russian occupation, and again in what looks like a bloodless uprising against autocracy. Petőfi wrote many inspiring poems. One of my favourite quotes from his poem ‘The sea his risen, the sea of the people’ (Feltámadott a tenger) is:
“Though the current may be
Down below the galley,
Yet water is the lord!”
Tisza, the name of the new, now governing party, as well as standing for Tisztelet and Szabadság (respect and freedom), is also the name of Hungary’s second largest river. The Tisza has risen!
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