Hungary’s election campaign intensified on Sunday (15 March) as Prime Minister Viktor Orbán and opposition leader Péter Magyar held rival rallies in Budapest ahead of the 12 April parliamentary election.
The demonstrations coincided with Hungary’s national day and highlighted a growing political divide between Orbán’s Fidesz government and Magyar’s Tisza Party.
Tens of thousands joined a pro-government “peace march” across the Danube towards parliament.
In a speech, Viktor Orbán told supporters that Ukraine should stop “attacking” Hungary, as tensions rise between the two countries over blocked Russian oil deliveries and a detained Ukrainian cash shipment.
Addressing a large rally in Budapest, he warned of external pressures including war and migration but pledged to “preserve Hungary as an island of security and tranquility even in such a turbulent world.” A banner at the march read: “We won’t be a Ukrainian colony!”
Orbán said the upcoming election places Hungary at a “crossroads” between Russia and the European Union, while reaffirming his government’s independent stance toward Brussels and Moscow.
“We will be here even if hundreds of parachutists from Brussels fall from the sky,” he said, adding: “We will round them up, dust off their pants and send them back, some to Brussels and some to Kyiv.”
Across the city, Péter Magyar addressed a large crowd at Heroes’ Square, positioning Hungary firmly within the European Union and NATO.
“Our homeland is part of the West, our homeland is part of the European community, our country is part of NATO,” Magyar said.
“And not because of treaties or charters, but because it is written in our destiny.”
Magyar accused the prime minister of clinging to power and of turning Hungarians against each other.
“Holding onto power at all costs. It is all that matters to him now,” Magyar said of Orban.
“Provoking with war, threatening with war, stoking war. This is his ultimate weapon against the Hungarian people.”
Magyar also accused Orban of “inviting Russian agents” to “interfere in the elections.
ℹ️ DW News
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