They covered for a man connected to child abuse
After that, Magyar just waited for the right moment. The latter came in February 2024, when Hungary was rocked by a scandal with a presidential pardon for a man who covered up sexual abuse in a children’s home. President Katalin Nováková and ex-minister Vargová, who signed the pardon together with the president, had to resign at Orbán’s order. The two most influential women of Fidesz thus became scapegoats.
That’s when Magyar stepped out of the shadows. He first published criticism of the government on social networks and then appeared on the independent Partizán channel, where over a million people saw his interview. This is a significant share in 9.6 million Hungary. In the interview, Magyar accused oligarchs and the party leadership of corruption and declared that he refused to be part of a system in which “the real culprits hide behind women’s skirts.”
At the same time, he quickly took over the inconspicuous small party Tisza and transformed it, according to its members, into a political start-up. In the European elections in June 2024, he won a shocking 29.6 percent of the vote and seven mandates with it, knocking Fidesz’s 44.8 percent to its all-time low. As part of the campaign, he also walked 300 kilometers from Budapest to the Romanian border to appeal to die-hard Fidesz voters in the countryside.
Sex tape, drugs and domestic violence
Viktor Orbán, accustomed to discrediting his opponents, unsurprisingly launched a massive campaign against Magyar. Those closest to Magyar helped him get the material for it.
The most serious accusations were brought by his ex-wife Judit Vargová. In interviews and on social networks, she accused him of years of physical and psychological abuse. For example, she described an incident in which he allegedly returned home drunk, threw things at her and hit her in the back with a belt buckle. Magyar rejected these accusations and called them propaganda. As a defense, he published the aforementioned secret recording, which Vargová subsequently declared that he blackmailed and terrorized her for more than a year so that she would say what he wanted to hear.
However, Vargová was not the only one. In the fall of 2024, his former partner Evelin Vogelová also appeared, who also portrayed him as a manipulator. The case took a bizarre turn when recordings were leaked proving that Vogelová demanded 30 million forints (approx. 75,000 euros) from Magyar for not “taking revenge” on him in the media.
Russian-style intelligence games and trap
The biggest blow to Magyar’s belt came just a few weeks before the April elections. A black-and-white image from a security camera was sent to Hungarian journalists. It showed a bedside table next to a strewn bed with what appeared to be drugs on it. The mysterious page had a “coming soon” sign on the design. Indications were that the next step would be the release of a secretly recorded sex video of Péter Magyar.
However, Magyar reacted quickly and tried to get ahead of the scandal. He admitted he had consensual sex with his ex-girlfriend, but vehemently denied having anything to do with the drugs on the table. He accused Orbán’s apparatus and the secret services of setting a “Russian-style trap” (the so-called honey-trap).
“Yes, I’m a 45-year-old man and I have a sex life,” he stated, admitting that although there were drugs at the party, he did not consume them. To support his claims, he took a public drug test on March 22, 2026 with a negative result. He also claimed that any video released would most likely be edited and edited by the Secret Service to discredit him. Vogelová also denied involvement in the recording, but the incident was immediately seized upon by Fidesz and its officials, who publicly called Magyar a liar.
His image was not enhanced by other recordings leaked in the past, in which he vulgarly called his own voters “stinking mouths”, or media reports about his aggressive confrontation and expulsion from a night club in Budapest.
Ignoring the European Parliament
One of the paradoxes of the new Hungarian prime minister is his work in the European Parliament (EP). While at home he promised Hungary’s return to the European core and the unblocking of frozen European funds, his strategy looks different in Brussels.
For a long time, Magyar has rejected the label of “Brussels puppet”, which Orbán tried to impose on him. As a result, he used the position of MEP primarily for parliamentary immunity (Hungary requested its cancellation in three cases, the EP refused) and as a platform for a domestic campaign.
His MEP activity is so amazing. With a 21 percent turnout, Magyar was one of the most absent MPs. At the same time, he left behind zero legislative footprint. Although he was a member of the important Committees on Agriculture (AGRI) and Constitutional Affairs (AFCO), he did not draft or collaborate on any report. In addition, he signed only one resolution.
He avoided connecting with EU leaders
In order not to anger domestic farmers, he voted against the EU-Mercosur trade deal with his party, breaking the line of the European People’s Party (EPP). The result was a six-month ban on public speaking.
He also shocked European allies in February 2026 when Tisza MEPs voted against a €90 billion loan to Ukraine, de facto agreeing to Orbán’s veto. He also purposefully did not support Ursula von der Leyen in the vote of confidence so that he would not be associated with unpopular European leaders on Fidesz billboards.
However, the October plenary meeting in 2024 in Strasbourg, where Magyar directly accused Orbán of creating the most corrupt state in the EU, is memorable. He then theatrically shook his hand in front of the cameras. For Magyar, the ground of the European Parliament thus turned out to be more than a space for changing the stage for Hungarian voters.
What awaits Hungary under the leadership of Magyar?
The victory of the Tisza will undoubtedly transform the geopolitical map of Central Europe. Magyar promises radical changes. They include, for example, the introduction of a limit on the number of terms of office of the prime minister – Orbán already had five, four of them in a row. He also wants to restore autonomy to the ministries of health, education and rural development. He wants to clear the state administration of Fidesz nominees and also announces the unblocking of European money.
However, both experts and allies are warning. Péter Márki-Zay, Orbán’s unsuccessful 2022 challenger, admitted: “He is arrogant, self-centered and evil. But that is exactly what we need to put Orbán behind us.”
Magyar himself admitted that he runs his party authoritatively, like a “one-man show”. Apart from him and a handful of selected members, for example, its members were prohibited from communicating with the media. Therefore, his opponents point out that although he deposed an autocrat, his own instincts for power may not be so different from those of Orbán.
Péter Magyar now has a unique chance to prove that his “Now” meant not just a change of people at the top, but a real democratic renewal of Hungary.
