Magyar Holds Rallies in Battery Towns to Shift Hungary Election Focus from Ukraine War

Hungarian opposition leader Peter Magyar held a series of rallies in towns that host controversial battery plants a month before a key election, honing in on a message that’s damaged Prime Minister Viktor Orban.Author of the article:You can save this article by registering for free here. Or sign-in if you have an account.(Bloomberg) — Hungarian opposition leader Peter Magyar held a series of rallies in towns that host controversial battery plants a month before a key election, honing in on a message that’s damaged Prime Minister Viktor Orban. Subscribe now to read the latest news in your city and across Canada.Subscribe now to read the latest news in your city and across Canada.Create an account or sign in to continue with your reading experience.Create an account or sign in to continue with your reading experience.A report last month that the government failed to act even as it was aware for years about toxic contamination at a Samsung SDI factory north of Budapest triggered a shift in polling away from Orban before the April 12 vote. Some 62% of eligible voters — and more than a quarter of those who back Orban’s Fidesz party — said the plant’s operation should’ve been suspended, a 21 Kutatokozpont poll published on Telex news website on Friday showed.Magyar, a former insider of Orban’s ruling elite who set up the Tisza party two years ago to end what he calls a culture of corruption and impunity, is trying to move an election narrative away from the incumbent’s anti-Ukraine messaging. Tisza has held a steady lead over Fidesz, raising the prospect that the Hungarian premier could be ousted after 16 years in power.Get the latest headlines, breaking news and columns.By signing up you consent to receive the above newsletter from Postmedia Network Inc.A welcome email is on its way. If you don't see it, please check your junk folder.The next issue of Top Stories will soon be in your inbox.We encountered an issue signing you up. Please try againInterested in more newsletters? Browse here.The candidate on Thursday drew applause from a crowd in the town of Ivancsa, home to a plant belonging to South Korean producer SK Innovation, with a pledge to create a national authority to oversee the “strictest” environmental and labor regulations for plants that make batteries used in electric vehicles. In the evening, he spoke to thousands of supporters in the town of Göd, where the Samsung plant is located.“What happened here isn’t a political mistake or an omission, it’s a very serious crime,” Magyar said next to the Samsung plant on Thursday evening, alleging collusion between the company and the government to skirt environmental regulations. He vowed to reestablish the environment ministry, which Orban dismantled when he returned to power in 2010, and to launch probes on battery plant investments after elections.Hungary became one of the largest per-capita battery producers in the world during Orban’s tenure, part of a bid to buoy the economy that’s been in and out of recession since the pandemic. So far, the sector has been a drag on growth as well as Fidesz’s support following grassroots opposition, with many focusing on the threat battery plans pose to the environment. Magyar’s Tisza party now holds a double-digit lead among decided voters in several independent polls. The Tisza candidate himself has interviewed several former workers who accused Samsung of evading sanctions by shipping toxic substances before environmental inspections, ultimately pushing the government to announce a police probe into suspected irregularities. Samsung has pointed to “false and misleading” information in media reports regarding its operations in Hungary. Even before the Iran war roiled energy markets, prompting Orban to impose a fuel price cap this week, the Kremlin-aligned premier called Ukraine the “enemy,” accusing it of shutting off the flow of Russian oil as a way to damage him politically before elections. Kyiv has said the Druzhba pipeline, which runs through Ukraine and carries the fuel, is out of commission due to a late January Russian attack.On Wednesday, Orban, who touts Fidesz as the “safe choice” for voters in a time of war, published videos of himself calling family members to encourage them not to worry about threats from Ukraine. The premier and his officials said he’d received menacing messages from the war-hit country. Magyar has said he’s concerned about a Russian misinformation campaign, including what Tisza sees as preparations for a potential false flag operation to rally support for Orban. Media reports have detailed Kremlin-orchestrated plans similar to recent interference in elections in Romania and Moldova.With Fidesz’s war message dominating the campaign in recent weeks, Orban narrowed Fidesz’s double-digit deficit among decided voters to 14 points from a 16-point difference a month ago, according to a 21 Kutatointezet poll published by 24.hu news website on Wednesday. Magyar’s Tisza is still on track to win a comfortable parliamentary majority, according to the survey, which is largely in line with the results from other independent pollsters.—With assistance from Maxim Edwards.(Updates with poll in second paragraph, Magyar’s comment in fifth.)Postmedia is committed to maintaining a lively but civil forum for discussion. Please keep comments relevant and respectful. Comments may take up to an hour to appear on the site. You will receive an email if there is a reply to your comment, an update to a thread you follow or if a user you follow comments. Visit our Community Guidelines for more information.