A Škoda saloon drew up outside a cultural centre and, as the man who hopes to replace Viktor Orbán as prime minister in April got out, a technician adjusted his lapel mic and gave him the go-ahead for his third one-hour Facebook Live session of the day. It was showtime. Standing in front of a child holding a Hungarian flag and a handful of bystanders, Péter Magyar greeted his small welcoming committee, who were handing out fridge magnets and the magazine of his centre-right party, Tisza (Respect and Freedom). Inside, 200 people were waiting to hear Magyar, who claims he can rid the country of the ‘petty sultan and his system of national corruption’.

Isaszeg, a town of 11,000 inhabitants about 30km east of Budapest, was among the final stops on an around-Hungary-in-80-days campaign tour scheduled to culminate two days later in the capital. ‘We’ve gone to the furthest corners of the country, to the remotest villages, places where Orbán and no other politician have ever set foot, to ask people what isn’t working, what they need and how we can help … And I have bad news for the Grand Vizier: the countryside is telling him his time’s up!’ Magyar told his audience. The 44-year-old lawyer left Fidesz, the ruling national-conservative party, in early 2024 after his ex-wife, justice minister Judit Varga, was sacked.

Hungary’s election will be decided far from the capital. A third of its population of 9.5 million live in one of 2,886 municipalities with fewer than 5,000 inhabitants. These are the places hit hardest by the deindustrialisation of the 1990s, the disappearance of cooperatives and the decline of public services. ‘Rural areas in the countries of the former Soviet bloc are unquestionably the biggest losers from the major economic and political transformation triggered by regime change,’ said geographer Bálint Csatári of the University of Szeged.

The decline of public services and local shops accelerated with the Covid pandemic, rising (…)

Full article: 2 206 words.

Daniel Paris-Clavel is the founder of ChériBibi, a website devoted to popular culture; www.cheribibi.net

(1) 1960-80, marked by corruption in government, kidnappings and terrorist attacks.

(2) Quoted in Noël Simsolo, “Conversations avec Sergio Leone”, La Petite Bibliothèque editions of Cahiers du Cinéma, Paris, 1999.