At last, a figure has emerged who could wrench power from Viktor Orbán in Hungary | Viktória Serdült

The regime is doing all it can to damage the credibility of Peter Magyar - but the young challenger's popularity keeps rising

Hungarian politics can sometimes seem like a soap opera that is stuck with the same characters and has run on too long. You have the occasional scandals - such as a prominent government MEP escaping a Brussels orgy down a drainpipe - but other than that, nothing ever seems to change. Here, you can start primary education, graduate high school and start university, and Viktor Orban will still be prime minister.

But that script is about to get a major rewrite, as Orban's 14-year reign is now being challenged by Peter Magyar, the ex-husband of Orban's former justice minister Judit Varga. Magyar's recently formed Tisza party currently has a double-digit lead over Fidesz in the latest opinion polls. General elections are due in the spring of 2026, and Fidesz is panicking.

Viktoria Serdult is a journalist and editor of Hungarian newspaper HVG

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