Major rival rallies held in Hungary (VIDEOS)
Tens of thousands of Hungarians took to the streets of Budapest on Saturday to attend rallies organized by Prime Minister Viktor Orban and his rival, former Fidesz party member Peter Magyar.
March 15 is a national holiday in Hungary, commemorating the 1848 revolution against Austrian rule. Both Orban’s Fidesz Party and the opposition center-right Tisza Party used the occasion to rally support ahead of parliamentary elections scheduled for April 2026.
More than 50,000 protesters attended the Tisza event, according to Reuters. Photos and videos circulating on social media show massive crowds flooding several streets in the Hungarian capital.
“Tisza is flooding,” demonstrators chanted, referring to both the opposition party and the river of the same name. Founded in 2020, the Tisza Party has recently seen a surge in approval ratings, reportedly surpassing Fidesz by around 10%, according to a Telex report this week.
"🇭🇺Spring is here, it is the Hungarian spring, and we are the people, the nation that will end Orbán's winter. This is a man who betrayed all of us, the national interests of Hungary, and put his personal well-being above all else." - Statement by Péter Magyar, leader of the… pic.twitter.com/E0SwrDHh43
— Visioner (@visionergeo) March 15, 2025
Magyar, who joined the party last year and quickly became its leader, has accused Orban’s government of corruption and enriching itself at the expense of ordinary Hungarians. He promised his supporters a political “spring” following what he called Orban’s “winter.”
The opposition leader also pledged to conduct a public survey on 12 key economic and political issues, including tax cuts, Hungary’s NATO and EU membership, and Ukraine’s bid to join the EU. While Tisza has been highly critical of Fidesz on domestic policy, it has aligned with Orban’s stance on not supplying weapons to Kiev.
Brussels seeks to bend us to its will - confiscating our rights and imposing its globalist agenda. We refuse to back down. Instead, we will reclaim what is ours and transform the EU from within. History will turn, scores will be settled, Hungary stands firm! pic.twitter.com/FG9tkHD9yO
— Orbán Viktor (@PM_ViktorOrban) March 15, 2025
Addressing his supporters in Budapest, Orban said it is time to eliminate what he called the “shadow army” of media organizations and NGOs that receive foreign funding and serve EU interests.
“We will dismantle the financial machine that has used corrupt dollars to buy politicians, judges, journalists, pseudo-NGOs, and political activists. We will eliminate the entire shadow army,” Orban said.
A staunch opponent of Western military aid to Kiev, Orban also claimed that the Ukraine conflict is being used as a tool of “colonization” by what he called the global liberal “empire.”
“The instrument of colonization is war. The rulers of Europe decided that Ukraine should continue the war, whatever it costs,” he told the crowd. Echoing a similar proposal by Magyar, Orban said he would hold a public survey to allow the people to decide whether they support Ukraine’s EU accession.
