A to 444 in the given interview, Péter Magyar, who was expelled from NER, neither confirmed nor denied that he was preparing to found a party. Judit Varga’s ex-husband, the former head of the Student Loan Center, said that they are preparing for the event announced for March 15, “we will announce what needs to be announced there.” He added that many things have still not been decided, the “exact framework” will be worked out in the coming days. The question of founding a party came up several times in the more than one-hour interview. Péter Magyar talked about this all along as if the launch of the new party was a foregone conclusion, and the only question was what would be officially created.
At one point, for example, he talked about: it is among “the possibilities of running out” that he will run in the June 9 municipal elections and the EP elections with his party that does not yet exist. According to Péter Magyar, it would be useful if this new political force could run in the EP elections, because then they cannot say that it is just another opposition party. If this is not the case, there will be a change of opposition, because Fidesz will win by a landslide, he said. He doesn’t know how to finance an EP campaign, he trusts in crowdfunding and creative solutions. So far, he hasn’t paid a single forint for what he has to say to reach the public.
On March 15, he will present his general political program, of which he also revealed a few details to 444: “If there is a third force, it will have a clear program, then mathematically a result should emerge that two thirds of two parties or two party alliances there is No one can govern alone, this will be a huge change. The first point of our program will be that on the first day of the Parliament, on the first day of the government’s operation, we will replace all the two-thirds of civil servants. And from there, the parties come to an agreement, just like in the good old days.” According to Péter Magyar, “anyone who claims anything can be overthrown, replaced and forced into a coalition in free elections”. He promised that after March 15, they will work on organizing the third force, which is needed to dismantle the NER.
He also touched on why the founding of a party is necessary at all. “Many people who support it say that it shouldn’t be a party and that it should remain a movement or an NGO. It must be understood that in a representative democracy, whoever really wants to have an impact on the processes must obviously think in terms of a party.” According to Péter Magyar, the 150,000-strong demonstration of flu medicines also shows that it is not possible to achieve an effect by making people angry and letting off steam.
According to a recent Median poll, Péter Magyar could win up to 13 percent of non-party voters among those who have heard of him. For this reason, Péter Magyar thinks that the emergence of a new opposition party would not be good for Fidesz either, due to the situation caused by the amnesty case. It is no coincidence that “Rogán and Gyurcsány propaganda are trying to discredit him hand in hand”.
According to Péter Magyar, they also see in Fidesz, which the majority of people feel “has never been like this”, which cannot be another 1 percent party. Politicians from both sides applied to join his party, but he did not want to name specific names. “In the current mood, a third force can only be successful if it does not cooperate with actors already present in politics.”
He called March 15 a watershed, then they will see how much demand there is for a new party. “I would like to see how many people would join a program, a national minimum that we or I are trying to define.” What he is doing now is a “one man show”, but in the long term it is not possible to do this without a team, because over time they will “grind in”. Three or four people are organizing the March 15 event, but he did not want to reveal who they are.
According to Péter Magyar, surveys show that there is now a strong anti-establishment mood, the majority of people are dissatisfied with the power elite, which includes the government and the opposition. If he had come to the public any other time, his stand would have had a tenfold impact. He said about himself that he is neither exciting nor saying new things, yet for some reason people pay attention to him.
He was serious when he called his political involvement a bad joke on the Partizán show a month ago, but he didn’t count on the impact his stand would have, and since then he has received a lot of supportive messages. His activities will only have a real impact if there is an alternative to the political status quo that has existed for 20-30 years. In his video interview with Telex, Péter Magyar talked about the fact that many people are persuading him to enter politics.