Election 2024 – Magyar calls for “new regime change”

After casting his ballot in Budapest’s District 12, Magyar said his party wanted “a new political regime change”.

Magyar said he expected an election result “which may not be visible from the Moon but from the prime minister’s office”, with “voters sending a strong message to those in power”.

“We will close off the past 20 years,” Magyar said, adding that “it will not be sprint run but rather a mixture of marathon and hurdles.”

At stake at Sunday’s election is if people choose “the past that Viktor Orban and Ferenc Gyurcsany destroyed … making Hungary the second poorest and the most corrupted country of the European Union,” Magyar said. He insisted that the country had received 40,000 billion (EUR 103m) forints in EU funding during those 20 years, still the state debt had increased by the same amount. “They have neglected health services and education, and nearly one million of our compatriots now live in Western Europe,” he said. Some 1.5 million people are without daily health care; there are 896 vacant general physician’s practices nationwide and a shortage of 40,000 nurses, Magyar added.

“Tisza is a party for peace; its supporters will vote for real peace and eliminating divisions,” Magyar said, adding that his party would “work to prevent Fidesz from re-introducing mandatory military service and sending further Hungarian troops to areas hit by civil war.”

Concerning the municipal election, Magyar said he had not supported any of the candidates for Budapest mayor because “one is a candidate of Fidesz-oligarchs and the other is of Ferenc Gyurcsany … Tisza has nothing to do with those people.” He also added that his party would cooperate with the winner in Budapest “on actual matters”.