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by Stefan J. Bos, Worthy News Europe Bureau Chief reporting from Budapest, Hungary
BUDAPEST (Worthy News) – Tens of thousands of Hungarians braved pouring rain Wednesday in a massive show of force for Hungary’s emerging TISZA Party, led by opposition politician Péter Magyar, who accused Prime Minister Viktor Orbán of betraying the ideals of 1989 when he once demanded the withdrawal of Russian troops from Hungary.
Speaking at Heroes’ Square, from where the crowd of his “National March” stretched along the UNESCO-protected Andrássy Avenue boulevard, Magyar recalled Orbán’s historic speech at the reburial of the executed 1956 Revolution leader Imre Nagy. “Thirty-six years have passed,” Magyar said. “The prime minister who once urged the withdrawal of Russian troops is now one of the Kremlin’s most loyal allies.”
Orbán, seen as increasingly authoritarian by his critics, has been one of the few European leaders opposing military support for war-torn Ukraine, which Russia invaded in February 2022. A planned Budapest summit between U.S. President Donald J. Trump and his Russian counterpart, Vladimir Putin, was called off this week amid tensions with Moscow over its refusal to freeze the current front lines.
Magyar warned that Hungary risked repeating its darkest history of 1956 when its revolution against Soviet Union domination was crushed by Russian troops, an event remembered annually on October 23. “The party state has been rebuilt, the government lies to the people, buys silence with money, and even expects gratitude for a pension premium or lower utility bills.”
Drawing a sharp parallel with Communist leader János Kádár, who crushed the 1956 revolution, Magyar declared: “Every leader who turns against his people will have a Kádár moment… It would be better not to drag it out until another national tragedy.”
CALL FOR RECONCILIATION AND CHANGE
Despite fiery criticism, Magyar repeatedly appealed for national unity. “We are Hungarians—whether we marched here or joined the Peace March,” he said, referring to Orbán’s rival demonstration. “After the bitter months ahead, let us extend a hand to those who gathered today at another event.”
He pledged to pass a “National Reconciliation Law” if elected and said Hungary needed “truth instead of propaganda, honor instead of corruption.” Some in the crowd nevertheless chanted “Dirty Fidesz!”, in reference to Orbán’s rightwing party, as he spoke.
In a policy leaflet circulated at the rally, TISZA detailed its plans to raise pensions, cut taxes, and combat corruption. The alsk party vowed to increase the minimum pension to 120,000 forints (300 euros) and regular pensions up to 140,000 forints, relatively small amounts within the European Union.
He also wants to provide nearly all retirees with a 200,000-forint “SZÉP-card”, a state-backed bank card, each year—roughly a 14th-month pension—to cover food and medicine.
TISZA also seeks to retain the 13th-month pension, avoid higher labor taxes, and cut income tax for those earning under 2.2 million forints per month. It wants to reduce value-added tax (VAT) on basic foods from 27 to 5 percent, reinstate the abolished KATA small-business tax, and introduce a wealth tax for billionaires, according to a pamphlet obtained by Worthy News at the rally.
EUROPEAN PROSECUTION OFFICE
Magyar also made clear it was time to join the European Public Prosecutor’s Office, restore the independence of courts and media, and stop state advertising in propaganda outlets.
TISZA also promised more investment in healthcare, incentives for doctors in underserved regions, and limits on hospital waiting times to six months. The party reaffirmed a hard line on illegal migration and vowed to protect borders “without accepting any EU migration quota.”
At a nearby march, Orbán sought to rally supporters behind what he described as Hungary’s mission to defend peace and sovereignty. Speaking in front of the neo-Gothic parliament building in Budapest, he warned against “being dragged into war” by the European Union and accused Brussels of wanting to impose “a puppet government” on Budapest. “Independent Hungarian politics are unacceptable to Brussels,” he said.
Orbán, who helped organize a Peace March of tens of thousands of loyalists through central Budapest, portrayed Magyar’s camp as foreign-backed agitators. “We are the peace camp,” he declared. “They are the war party.”
Yet several of Magyar’s supporters told Worthy News they had lost faith in the government.
“What they are doing is against everything they say—they call themselves Christian, but they are false Christians,” said a 21-year-old student, who declined to give his name.
ENDING HUNGARY HATRED
He noted that “many” older citizens and villagers had joined the rally. “Usually, Budapest is against the government, but now the countryside joins.”
Attila Medák, a 44-year-old lawyer and father of two, said he hoped a new government would “end the hatred and propaganda” dividing Hungarian society. “Peter Magyar could give Hungary a better future,” he said.
Magyar framed the upcoming April 2026 parliamentary elections as a choice between “East or West, corruption or honor, propaganda or truth, colony or free Hungary.” He concluded confidently that TISZA will win—“not by a little, but by a lot.”
His party—short for Tisztelet és Szabadság (“Respect and Freedom”)—has drawn record crowds in recent weeks, emerging as the strongest centrist challenge yet to Orbán’s decade-long dominance of Hungarian politics.
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