BUDAPEST, Hungary (AP) \u2014 Hundreds of thousands of Hungarians filled the streets of Budapest on Thursday in competing demonstrations as supporters of the country\u2019s two main political movements staged mutual shows of strength before next spring\u2019s national election.<\/p>\n
The rival rallies were a standoff between nationalist Prime Minister Viktor Orb\u00e1n<\/a> and his main political challenger, P\u00e9ter Magyar<\/a>, who looks set to present the long-serving Hungarian leader with the most competitive ballot in his 15 years in power. <\/p>\n The election is due in April, but an exact date for the vote hasn\u2019t been set.<\/p>\n Orb\u00e1n\u2019s supporters gathered on a bridge spanning the Danube River on Thursday morning and began marching toward Hungary\u2019s towering neo-Gothic parliament. The rally, dubbed a \u201cpeace march\u201d by organizers, came on Hungary\u2019s Oct. 23 national holiday, a remembrance of a failed anti-Soviet uprising in 1956 that was crushed by the Red Army. <\/p>\n Participants shouted slogans backing Orb\u00e1n, and his message that foreign powers threaten to push Hungary into direct involvement in Russia\u2019s war in Ukraine<\/a>. At the front of the march, one large banner read: \u201cWe don\u2019t want to die for Ukraine.\u201d <\/p>\n Addressing the crowd in a speech riddled with hostility for both Ukraine and the European Union \u2014 regular subjects of his ire \u2014 Orb\u00e1n accused Kyiv\u2019s European backers<\/a> of having brought the EU into the war, and of being willing \u201cto send others to die.\u201d <\/p>\n Orb\u00e1n, considered Russian President Vladimir Putin\u2019s closest partner in the EU<\/a>, has consistently argued against Western support for neighboring Ukraine since Moscow launched its full-scale invasion on Feb. 24, 2022, and has maintained warm relations with the Kremlin while taking a combative posture toward Kyiv<\/a>.<\/p>\n The Hungarian leader also has vehemently opposed Ukraine\u2019s ambitions to join the 27-nation EU and has argued for an immediate ceasefire in the conflict, though he hasn\u2019t addressed what that might imply for Ukraine\u2019s territorial integrity or European security amid continuing Russian aggression. <\/p>\n During his roughly 40-minute speech, Orb\u00e1n said that Ukraine \u201chas long ceased to be sovereign, independent and is absolutely not self-sufficient.\u201d<\/p>\n He said he would support a strategic partnership between the EU and Kyiv, but that Ukraine \u201ccannot be members either of our military or economic alliance. They would bring war, take our money and ruin our economy.\u201d<\/p>\n Later in the day, throngs of supporters of opposition leader Magyar filled one of Budapest\u2019s central squares and adjacent avenues for their own demonstration \u2014 both an anti-government protest and a show of support for Magyar and his center-right Tisza party.<\/p>\n Marchers shouted anti-government slogans, as well as \u201cRussians go home!\u201d \u2014 a refrain from Hungary\u2019s 1956 anti-Soviet rebellion and a modern reference to many people\u2019s view that Orb\u00e1n has drawn the country too close to Moscow. <\/p>\n One Tisza supporter, Zsanett Kiss, traveled from P\u00e1pa in western Hungary to attend the march. She said she believed Magyar would be able to improve Hungary\u2019s stagnate economy, but also to bring the country back to a more democratic path. <\/p>\n \u201cI want there to be a change already in this country, and I can say that I\u2019ve had enough, enough of the last 15 years,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n Magyar, a 44-year-old lawyer and former insider within Orb\u00e1n\u2019s Fidesz party, burst into political prominence last year, and has focused his message on bread-and-butter issues affecting the majority of Hungarians: persistent inflation, poor health care and increasingly salient allegations of government corruption<\/a> \u2014 all sources of dissatisfaction that have plagued Orb\u00e1n\u2019s government. <\/p>\n Magyar has focused his campaign on the rural countryside, traditionally a reliable voting bloc for Fidesz. He recently ended an 80-day tour of the country where he held scores of town hall-style forums, giving speeches and taking questions from attendees.<\/p>\n Speaking to the crowd of his supporters that filled Budapest\u2019s sprawling Heroes\u2019 Square, Magyar accused Orb\u00e1n of impoverishing the country by misusing public funds, and of turning Hungarians against one another. <\/p>\n However, he also struck an inclusionary tone, encouraging his supporters to embrace their political opponents following next April\u2019s election.<\/p>\n \u201cI call on everyone to stick together and endure these six bitter months, and then to reach out to those who gathered at another event today,\u201d Magyar said. He encouraged the crowd to imagine a future in which, \u201con October 23 of next year, there are not two contemptuous crowds facing each other, but a nation united, celebrating and smiling at each other.\u201d<\/p>\n