Péter Magyar, who is running in European elections, has shot to prominence by pledging to end corruption

A rising challenger to the Hungarian prime minister, Viktor Orbán, has held what he has called the largest countryside political demonstration in the country’s recent history on the latest stop of his campaign tour that has mobilised thousands across Hungary’s rural heartland.

About 10,000 people gathered in Debrecen, Hungary’s second-largest city, in support of Péter Magyar, a political newcomer who has shot to prominence in less than three months by pledging to end official corruption and reverse the declining quality of life in the country.

Supporters endured a brief but unexpected rain shower before the afternoon demonstration, turning the city’s central square into a sea of umbrellas. They waved Hungarian flags bearing the names of towns and villages across the country from which they had come.

“Today, the vast majority of the Hungarian people are tired of the ruling elite, of the hatred, apathy, propaganda and artificial divides,” Magyar told the crowd. “Hungarians today want cooperation, love, unity and peace.”
Magyar, a former insider in Hungary’s ruling Fidesz party, has since February denounced the nationalist Orbán since February as running an entrenched “mafia state” and declared war on what he calls the government’s propaganda machine.

His party, Tisza, which stands for Respect and Freedom, has announced it will run 12 candidates in the European elections on 9 June, with Magyar appearing first on the party list. It has also announced it will run four candidates in local council elections in Budapest.