BUDAPEST: Tens of thousands of Hungarians gathered in Budapest on Thursday at rival rallies, with the government and the opposition looking to drum up support ahead of elections next year.
Nationalist Prime Minister Viktor Orban is facing an unprecedented challenge to his 15-year premiership from opposition leader Peter Magyar, who has been campaigning against what he calls a “corrupt” political elite.
Orban, who has close ties with US President Donald Trump and Russian President Vladimir Putin despite Moscow’s invasion of Ukraine, blamed Brussels for impeding Trump’s “mission” to try to end the war in Ukraine.
Magyar, 44, attacked what he said was the dangerous consolidation of power under 62-year-old Orban’s rule.
The prime minister was enthusiastically received by tens of thousands of supporters following a “peace march”.
“Brussels has decided to go to war,” Orban told a crowd in front of parliament, who had welcomed him with “Viktor” chants.
“If Brussels did not hinder the US president’s peace mission, the war would already be over,” he added.
“Those who believe they are supporting a change of government in Hungary are in fact supporting war, whether they realise it or not,” Orban added.
He was due in Brussels later Thursday for the EU summit on support for Ukraine.
At a separate rally, Magyar accused Orban of rebuilding the one-party state he had helped to dismantle in 1989 during the country’s democratic transition.
“The politician who once demanded the withdrawal of Russian troops is now the Kremlin’s most loyal ally,” he told supporters.
“The politician who once said that democracy and communism were incompatible has himself built a system that concentrates power, supervises and controls the press, and rules his home country with fear,” he added.
Analysts and an AFP journalist present said the crowd was visibly larger at Magyar’s rally, although Orban claimed the opposite.
Trump and Putin said last week they planned to hold a summit on the war in Ukraine in the Hungarian capital.
Although Trump said Tuesday he had shelved the planned summit for now, analysts have said the announcement strengthened the hand of Orban.
“I really root for this peace meeting to happen,” 72-year-old pensioner Istvanne Ambrozi told AFP at the Orban rally.
“I trust that everything will be fine.”
The crowd arrived at the parliament square after marching through central Budapest, many walking behind a banner saying “We don’t want to die for Ukraine”.
Tens of thousands also gathered at Magyar’s rival rally, dubbed a “national march”, carrying national flags and torches.
Attendees marched behind a banner calling for a “system change” in next year’s elections due in April.
“We are very tired of this system and I firmly believe that democracy is at stake,” Attila Poljak, a 39-year-old welder, told AFP.
“Everything in the country is moving in the wrong direction at the moment,” he added.
Gatherings in support of the ruling Fidesz party, dubbed “peace marches” even before Russia’s war in Ukraine and Hungary’s self-proclaimed pacifism, have routinely occurred before elections since Orban’s return to power in 2010.
This time, it coincides with a national day commemorating Hungary’s 1956 anti-Soviet uprising, crushed by Moscow with overwhelming force.
Analysts say keeping the public focus on the war is considered helpful for the governing party.
“The stars are aligned favourably for Orban,” Agoston Mraz, head of pro-government Nezopont Institute think tank, told AFP ahead of the rallies.
The premier has long been arguing for a US-Russia deal to end the conflict, he noted.
And with no breakthrough, the prospect of a Budapest summit strengthened Orban’s position, because he “can claim he has done everything in his power” to bring an end to the war, Mraz added. – AFP
