Hungary's longtime prime minister rallies to keep seat as rival calls for a new era

+ Accessibility links Skip to main content Keyboard shortcuts for audio player Open Navigation Menu --> Newsletters NPR Shop Close Navigation Menu Home News Expand/collapse submenu for News National World Politics Business Health Science Climate Race Culture Expand/collapse submenu for Culture Books Movies Television Pop Culture Food Art & Design Performing Arts Life Kit Gaming Music Expand/collapse submenu for Music Tiny Desk New Music Friday All Songs Considered Music Features Live Sessions The Best Music of 2025 Podcasts & Shows Expand/collapse submenu for Podcasts & Shows Daily Morning Edition Weekend Edition Saturday Weekend Edition Sunday All Things Considered Up First Here & Now NPR Politics Podcast Featured Wait Wait...Don't Tell Me! Fresh Air Wild Card with Rachel Martin It's Been a Minute Planet Money Get NPR+ More Podcasts & Shows Search Newsletters NPR Shop Tiny Desk New Music Friday All Songs Considered Music Features Live Sessions The Best Music of 2025 About NPR Diversity Support Careers Press Ethics Hungary's longtime prime minister rallies to keep seat as rival calls for a new era Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban slams Europe in an election speech on his country's Revolution Day. World Hungary's longtime prime minister rallies to keep seat as rival calls for a new era March 16, 20264:33 AM ET Heard on Morning Edition By Rob Schmitz , A Martínez Hungary's longtime prime minister rallies to keep seat as rival calls for a new era Listen &middot; 2:55 2:55 Transcript Toggle more options Download Embed Embed "> <iframe src="https://www.npr.org/player/embed/nx-s1-5744790/nx-s1-9689306" width="100%" height="290" frameborder="0" scrolling="no" title="NPR embedded audio player"> Transcript Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban slams Europe in an election speech on his country's Revolution Day. Sponsor Message A MARTÍNEZ, HOST: People took to the streets in Hungary's capital, Budapest, on Sunday to support two candidates competing to lead the country. One is strongman Viktor Orban, who's running for a fifth consecutive term in next month's election. The other is trying to end his rule. Hundreds of thousands of people turned out, according to an estimate by the Associated Press. And NPR's Rob Schmitz joins us now to talk about this. So, Rob, Orban's election victories really have not been that close. So how likely is it that he loses this time around?

+ ROB SCHMITZ, BYLINE: Yeah. They have not been close, but polls this time around show that Orban is facing his first real challenge to his power in his 15 years in office. Opposition candidate Peter Magyar is leading in the polls by double digits. Yesterday, Orban called Magyar a puppet of Brussels, the seat of the European Union, and a puppet of Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy. Here's what Orban said. (SOUNDBITE OF ARCHIVED RECORDING) PRIME MINISTER VIKTOR ORBAN: (Speaking Hungarian). SCHMITZ: And, A, he's saying here that "it is impossible to know the day or the hour when the first soldier from Brussels will step onto Ukrainian soil. But we know one thing for sure. It will happen, and we must stay out of it. And I," Orban told his supporters, "will preserve Hungary as an island of security and calm in a turbulent world." MARTÍNEZ: All right. So Orban seems to be equating the EU and Ukraine with war and is portraying himself as a leader of peace. SCHMITZ: Exactly. And it's worth pointing out here that Viktor Orban is an ally of Russian President Vladimir Putin. He's also close to President Trump, and he has a long-running feud with Zelenskyy because as a member of the EU, Hungary, through Orban, has voted against and been able to hold up crucial military aid to Ukraine. He's also accused Zelenskyy of refusing to fix an oil pipeline that connects Russia to Hungary and which runs through Ukraine. Ukraine says the pipeline was damaged by Russian airstrikes. MARTÍNEZ: And Orban's challenger, 44-year-old Peter Magyar, got a much bigger crowd, it sounds like. SCHMITZ: Absolutely. Even though Magyar originally came from Orban's right-wing Fidesz party, he has since managed to unite parties, to oppose Orban's rule. Here is a snippet of Magyar's speech. (SOUNDBITE OF ARCHIVED RECORDING) PETER MAGYAR: (Speaking Hungarian). SCHMITZ: And he's saying here to his supporters, "if we join forces, we cannot only replace an era, but also build a new one, a calmer, fairer and more humane country," he said, "a country where we finally do not have to be afraid, don't have to only manage to survive, but can thrive in peace." Now, Magyar has said his party would curb corruption, which has been rampant under Orban's rule. He said he'd unlock billions of euros in frozen EU funds to boost the economy. Those funds were frozen because of Orban's crackdowns on democracy. And Magyar said he would firmly anchor Hungary in the EU and in NATO, and that would represent a big change for Europe. MARTÍNEZ: That's NPR's Rob Schmitz. Rob, thanks. SCHMITZ: Thank you. Copyright &copy; 2026 NPR. All rights reserved. Visit our website terms of use and permissions pages at www.npr.org for further information. Accuracy and availability of NPR transcripts may vary. Transcript text may be revised to correct errors or match updates to audio. Audio on npr.org may be edited after its original broadcast or publication. The authoritative record of NPR’s programming is the audio record. Facebook Flipboard Email Read & Listen Home News Culture Music Podcasts & Shows Connect Newsletters Facebook Instagram Press Public Editor Corrections Transcripts Contact & Help About NPR Overview Diversity NPR Network Accessibility Ethics Finances Get Involved Support Public Radio Sponsor NPR NPR Careers NPR Shop NPR Extra Terms of Use Privacy Your Privacy Choices Text Only Sponsor Message Sponsor MessageBecome an NPR sponsor (function () { var loadPageJs = function () { (window.webpackJsonp=window.webpackJsonp||[]).push([[22],{1167:function(e,n,c){e.exports=c(323)},323:function(e,n,c){"use strict";c.p=NPR.serverVars.webpackPublicPath,Promise.all([c.e(1),c.e(2),c.e(3),c.e(4),c.e(84)]).then(function(e){c(3),c(1140),c(116),c(94),c(52),c(493),c(239),c(102),c(104),c(1141),c(143),c(1142),c(238),c(48),c(1143)}.bind(null,c)).catch(c.oe)}},[[1167,0]]]); }; if (document.readyState === 'complete') { loadPageJs(); } else { window.addEventListener('load', function load() { window.removeEventListener('load', load, false); loadPageJs(); }); } })();