This is how the prime minister of Hungary lost his leadership after 16 years in power.
Orbán lost public trust
Orbán’s decline began in 2024, after the government pardoned the former deputy director of a children’s home who had been convicted of covering up child sexual abuse.
The resulting scandal prompted Magyar – at the time a mid-level civil servant and member of Fidesz – to organize the public. rebellion against the prime ministerand led thousands of protesters to the streets. His outburst in the media included the release of an audio recording of his wife, Judit Varga, who had just been forced out as justice minister, describing the government’s alleged interference in the case.
The accusations damaged the image of Fidesz as a protector of children. It led to a “moral crisis of moral government,” said Péter Krekó, director at independent political consultancy Political Capital. “Since then, we can find that whatever the government does, whatever the government says, has little to do with the public.”
Orbán lost the ground game
Magyar used the 2024 amnesty scandal as a springboard for European Parliament elections that year. Following several protests, he launched a nationwide tour, visiting villages, towns and cities across Hungary to rein in the control that Fidesz enjoys over most of the country’s media and win seven of the 21 seats in the European Parliament.
This year, after Magyar launched another tour, Orbán started one of his own, his first series of public meetings after years of tightly controlled, closed-door events. Not only did he fail to mobilize as many people as the Magyars, he was often confronted by protesters.
