Outsider from the right backed by Hungary’s left to beat Orbán

Six opposition parties have united behind Peter Marki-Zay for crucial spring vote

When Hungarian opposition leader Peter Marki-Zay was in Brussels at the end of last year, he visited the street where an MEP from prime minister Viktor Orban's ruling party, Fidesz, had fled down a drainpipe to evade a police raid on a gay orgy" that broke lockdown rules. The MEP, who later resigned, had been an architect of a clause in Hungary's constitution defining marriage as a heterosexual institution. The drainpipe visit was easy political capital for Marki-Zay, seeking to draw attention to the hypocrisy of the governing party, while stressing his commitment to LGBT rights and conservative credentials.

It's the kind of move that has discombobulated Fidesz, who weren't expecting to face this kind of challenge in Hungary's parliamentary elections in spring 2022.