One recent poll suggested that 65% of voters under the age of 30 are planning to cast their vote against Orbán. Composite: Guardian Design/AFP/Getty ImagesView image in fullscreenOne recent poll suggested that 65% of voters under the age of 30 are planning to cast their vote against Orbán. Composite: Guardian Design/AFP/Getty Images‘Feels like history is being made’: will young Hungarian voters oust Orbán?The rightwing populist has been in power for 16 years but a new generation of voters are preparing to vote for his opponent, polls suggest
As he rushed to finish off his cigarette before heading to class, Ákos, 20, confessed that he has more at stake than most as Hungarians prepare to head to the polls in the coming days.
“If things remain the same, or get even worse, I can’t see a future here,” said the aspiring teacher. “There are many people who want to try living elsewhere, and that’s totally fine, but I’m not one of them. For so long I’ve dreamed of working and teaching here.”
View image in fullscreenÁkos on the Eötvös Loránd University (Elte) campus, Budapest. Photograph: Zsuzsa Darab/The GuardianÁkos was four years old when Hungarians voted in Viktor Orbán as prime minister in 2010, setting in motion a 16-year grip on power that has sought to transform the central European country into an “illiberal democracy” – and which has defined much of this student’s early life.
Ákos is a member of Generation Orbán – the young Hungarians who came of age as the country plunged in press freedom rankings, was accused of being an “electoral autocracy”, and became the most corrupt country in the EU.
Now, it is these people, many of whom will be voting for the first time in a general election on 12 April, who have become the primary and most powerful driving force for change. One recent poll suggested that 65% of voters under the age of 30 are planning to cast their vote against Orbán.
“It’s been devastating at times,” said Boldi, 22, another student, citing the lack of opportunities for young people and stalled social mobility. “I think anything is better than a party that had 16 years to change things and just made it worse.”
View image in fullscreenBoldi on the Elte campus. Photograph: Zsuzsa Darab/The GuardianIn interviews with young Hungarians on an overcast day in Budapest, the Guardian heard many voters express deep hopes that their country is on the brink of change. Most polls have suggested that Orbán is trailing in voter support as he faces off against an unprecedented challenge from Péter Magyar, a former top member of Fidesz.
“With all of the marches and gatherings that are happening, it kind of feels like history is being made,” said Betti, 24, as she made her way through a leafy courtyard just off the Astoria intersection in central Budapest.
The election has pitted two distinctly different versions of Hungary’s future against each other, leaving deep divisions as Fidesz works to convince voters that Ukraine is the country’s top enemy and Orbán the only safe pair of hands, while Tisza urges voters to focus on economic stagnation, fraying social services and corruption.
“It’s just terrible right now,” said Betti, whose job as a cashier gives her a frontline view to the rising cost of living and, like the others who spoke to the Guardian, declined to give their surname. “It’s kind of depressing knowing that there are people around you who just don’t want things to get better or they believe the propaganda, like ‘Ukraine is coming for us’.”
View image in fullscreenBetti on the Elte campus. Photograph: Zsuzsa Darab/The GuardianThe shift of young voters away from Fidesz – a movement founded by pro-democracy, change-seeking youth which at one point required its members to be under the age of 35 – is one of the biggest stories of the election, said Nóra Schultz, a Budapest-based political analyst.
“Even before Tisza came on to the scene, there was definitely a mood for change among youngsters. But when Péter Magyar started running his party, there was a complete shift,” she said. “Now, in the most reliable polls, Fidesz has below 10% support among people under the age of 40.”
She listed a raft of reasons to explain the change, from domestic concerns over the cost of living and access to housing to a pro-EU stance that clashed with Orbán’s drift towards Russia. Social media, she added, had also played a role: independent journalists and opposition politicians had managed to carve out spaces capable of circumventing Fidesz’s tight grip on traditional media, where the party and its loyalists are estimated to control 80% of the landscape.
In the run-up to the election, both candidates have also taken very different approaches to courting the youth vote, said Schultz. Magyar has made a conscious effort to call on them to help spread the word, while Orbán has highlighted initiatives such as the aid his government rolled out for first-time homebuyers or tax benefits for young mothers.
View image in fullscreenPéter Magyar, leader of the Tisza (Respect and Freedom) party. Photograph: János Kummer/Getty Images“Magyar treats young people as political actors. Orbán is more like: ‘Be happy about what you’ve been getting,’ whereas Péter Magyar is: ‘Come and join me,’” she said.
The impact can be plainly seen in places such as TikTok, where legions of young women have posted videos of themselves lip-syncing and dancing to Magyar’s speeches or flaunting nail designs featuring the party’s branding, said Schultz. “And you don’t see that with Fidesz at all.”
On the streets of central Budapest, however, some were swift to stress that their vote was less about Magyar and more about the need for change. “It’s not like all the youngsters are Tisza activists,” said Jani, 21, who is studying to be a film director. “It’s more like everybody is against this system and Tisza is the only option we have. I don’t sympathise with Péter Magyar at all, but I have no choice so I will vote for him.”
View image in fullscreenHungarian prime minister Viktor Orbán attends the first so-called Patriots’ Grand Assembly of nationalist groups from Europe, in Budapest, Hungary, 23 March 2026. Photograph: Márton Mónus/ReutersOthers worried that the wave of opposition wouldn’t be high enough to dislodge Fidesz from power. Some of this was about the electoral maths, as polls suggest Fidesz continues to lead among voter aged 65 and over, as well as much of the countryside.
But it was also about accusations of an electoral system that over the years has been remade to tilt heavily in Orbán’s and his party’s favour. These claims came to the fore in the last election, as the opposition alleged gerrymandering and vote-buying to explain why its momentum had failed to translate into electoral success.
Other young Hungarians said they were anxious about how Orbán – the leader whose strongman approach has been touted as an inspiration to Donald Trump and far-right movements across the globe – would react if Tisza were to win. “I think they’ve already realised that it’s over for them, but I don’t think they will go down without a fight,” said Betti. “They will try something.”
Even if Magyar succeeded in taking power, she is under no illusion that the system that Orbán and his party have spent years building will quickly unravel. “We know that, even if we change governments, the next four to eight years are going to be hard because they just absolutely took the country to shit. There’s no other way to say it,” she said. “It’s going to be hard, but it’s probably still going to be better.”
That optimism was echoed by Ákos as he steeled himself for a result that he sees as decisive to his future. “I’m pretty hopeful,” he said, as he ground out his cigarette. “Like most of my generation, I’m awaiting change. Change in the government, change in the system, and a change in people’s thinking.”
Such a change was desperately needed in today’s Hungary, he said, even if many refused to admit it. “I would certainly hope that the divisions between Hungarians will diminish over time, so that we realise that we are not each other’s enemies,” he added. “And that we have to share this country and work to make it a better place together.”
