PROFILE: Magyar, the driven challenger standing on the brink of victory

BUDAPEST – Péter Magyar appears so tailor-made to challenge Viktor Orbán for the leadership of Hungary that he could have been created by an algorithm.

In just two years, Magyar, 45, has run a highly controlled, one-man campaign, carefully calibrated to exploit weaknesses in Orbán’s governing system – one he long belonged to.

Harnessing alternative and independent media, he has unified much of the democratic opposition behind him, building an upbeat, grassroots campaign that has attracted mass support across Hungary.

In a country where media and public institutions are heavily tilted against the opposition, Magyar now stands on the cusp of a victory that could reshape EU politics and sideline Europe’s most consequential populist. Leading pollster Median has even predicted his Tisza Party could secure a two-thirds majority.

“Fidesz can’t really win even with fraud. Unless there is some enormous fraud, or they completely overturn the laws,” he recently told Telex.