Orban's opponent Magyar calls for early elections in Hungary

Marton Kasnyik, Bloomberg News on Jan 1, 2025

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Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban’s opponent Peter Magyar sought elections earlier than the one scheduled in 2026 amid opinion polls showing the ruling party losing its popularity. The government said elections will be held next year.

“Let there be a new election, to return the right of deciding their fate to the people,” Magyar addressed Orban in a New Year’s speech published on social media, marking the first time the opposition leader has called for early elections.

Elections will be held in 2026, the government told Hungarian news website Telex after an opposition politician wrote about money set aside for elections in the 2025 budget.

Orban’s Fidesz, having dominated Hungary’s politics for one and a half decades, has been losing ground to Magyar’s upstart Tisza party since its launch in April last year. Several polls in the second half of the year showed Tisza with commanding leads over the governing party.

Fidesz’s support is slipping because weak economic growth and high inflation eroded trust in Orban’s management of the economy, while high profile scandals shook the party’s base. Orban is banking on an upswing of the economy this year to improve his chances at the elections.