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Peter Magyar (M.) at the protest in Budapest: "The government should put power back into the hands of the people"

Photo: Attila Kisbenedek / AFP

In one of the largest protest rallies in recent decades, tens of thousands of Hungarians demonstrated in Budapest against the government of right-wing populist Prime Minister Viktor Orbán and called for new elections. The call for this was made by former political insider Peter Magyar, who had recently turned into an Orbán critic. "The government should put power back in the hands of the people and give them the opportunity to choose," said Magyar in a speech that lasted almost an hour.

Magyar was married to the former Justice Minister Judit Varga and had himself held management positions in state and state-related institutions and companies. In February he surprisingly broke with his previous political environment. According to his account, the immediate cause was a pedophilia scandal that shook Hungary at the beginning of the year. It led to the resignation of President Katalin Novák and the end of the political career of Magyar's ex-wife. Novák pardoned a man who had been legally convicted of aiding and abetting the sexual abuse of children and young people.

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Since his public appearance as a critic of the Orbán government, Magyar has accused those around the head of government of corruption and abuse of power. To support his allegations, last month he published a recording of a conversation he had with Varga at the beginning of the previous year, when she was justice minister and he was still married to her. In it, the politician describes how followers of Orbán's powerful chancery minister Antal Rogán are said to have intervened in public prosecutor's investigations and deleted passages from the files that incriminate the minister. Varga did not deny the authenticity of the conversation, but claimed that he was manipulated and coerced by Magyar into making statements that were incorrect.

At the rally, Magyar shouted into the crowd: "We are demanding our country and our national symbols back!" He encouraged people to get involved in his new movement "Up, up, Hungary!" Magyar cannot run with his own party in the European elections on June 9th because he cannot meet the deadlines by founding a party. But he is negotiating with existing parties to make it possible to run. The result of the European elections in Hungary will be “the first nail in the coffin” for the Orbán system, Magyar added.

czl/dpa