A youth-led political movement is threatening to end Prime Minister Viktor Orbán's 16-year grip on power in Hungary, with a generational divide emerging as a key factor in the upcoming April 12 elections. Volunteers in their mid-20s have been campaigning door-to-door for the center-right Tisza party, led by Péter Magyar, a 45-year-old lawyer who broke with Orbán's Fidesz party in 2024.
“We've lived our whole lives in this system, and we want to see what it could be like outside of it,” said Florián Végh, a 25-year-old student. “I can say on behalf of my fellow university students and my friends that this system is absolutely dysfunctional.” A recent survey by pollster 21 Research Center found that 65% of voters under 30 support Tisza, while only 14% back Orbán.
In contrast, Fidesz leads Tisza 50% to 19% among retirement-age Hungarians, many of whom appreciate policies such as pension supplements and tax breaks for mothers. Orbán, 62, has trailed in the polls behind Magyar, whose rapid political rise has inspired a voting cohort that had largely avoided politics for two decades.
Andrea Szabó, a senior researcher at Eötvös Loránd University, said a new political generation is emerging that opposes the Orbán regime, much like Orbán's generation fought against Soviet-era socialism. “Now, we have reached the point where after 25 years, there is a new political generation that is against the Orbán regime,” she said.
Orbán's government, which defines itself as Christian-national and illiberal, has faced accusations of clamping down on press freedom and corruption. While his policies appeal to older voters, young Hungarians are driven by a “very strong sense of justice” incompatible with authoritarianism and corruption, according to Szabó.
Orbán has urged young people to support him, saying at a recent rally, “Young people, wake up! These are not times for taking risks, experimenting or trying new things.” However, many youth, like 24-year-old volunteer Levente Koltai, believe Fidesz no longer lives up to its name as the “Alliance of Young Democrats,” calling it instead “a circle of cronies.”
