Once an Orbán loyalist, in 2023 Péter Magyar was excluded from an exclusive pro-government club, a move that marked his growing alienation from Fidesz’s inner circles. His deteriorating relationship with a prominent minister, alongside mounting frustrations, pushed him toward a dramatic break with the ruling party. Magyar soon emerged as prime minister Viktor Orbán’s most prominent challenger, reshaping Hungarian politics within weeks. Direkt36’s investigation tells the story of the new and unlikely challenger of Orbán.

The opposition parties that suffered a crushing defeat in 2022 are busy gaining positions in favor of each other instead of weakening the power of Fidesz.

The chaos was even bigger inside the campaign than it looked from the outside. Direkt36 has investigated how the opposition, which led in the polls last fall, lost against Viktor Orbán’s governing party yet again.

Direkt36 reported that Gergő Czeglédy, a well-connected politician from the Hungarian Socialist Party, won lucrative state contracts jointly with government-close businessmen. Now OLAF, the EU’s anti-fraud agency found irregularities in some of their deals.

What conflicts emerged between Gergely Karácsony and Ferenc Gyurcsány? What did Antal Rogán tell the mayor? Who are the most influential people at Budapest’s city hall? Direkt36 presents the behind-the-scenes story of the capital’s opposition leadership.

Opposition MP Lajos Olah has been dealing with China for quite a while. He is so successful that even Hungarian foreign minister Peter Szijjarto can also be regularly seen with him. And one of Olah’s acquaintances operates a Chinese trading house for 70 thousand euros monthly.

A company of Gergo Czegledy, a local leader of the Hungarian Socialist Party in Budapest is involved in projects investigated by OLAF.

The company group of Gergo Czegledy who is influential within Budapest circles and his partners with links to the government won over the past years state tenders in the value of several billions of forints.