Peter Magyar, the opposition leader challenging Viktor Orban in Hungary's April 12 election, last week published excerpts of a 2025 police investigation report that he says show senior Fidesz campaign figures directed his former girlfriend, Evelin Vogel, to spy on him.
The allegations add to a two-year pattern of attacks by pro-Orban media against Magyar, as "Hvylya" reports, citing a Financial Times investigation. Pro-government outlets said the pair had an intimate drug-fuelled encounter in 2024 which was secretly recorded. Magyar admitted the encounter took place when he was single, acknowledged narcotics were present, but denied personal use and took a drug test at a Vienna lab to prove he was clean.
Magyar filed a police complaint, calling the episode "a smear campaign" organized by Fidesz. Vogel told local media she had no knowledge of the recording and was also a victim of illegal surveillance. She did not comment on allegations that she had been working for Fidesz.
The spy scandal is only the latest attempt by Orban's machine to neutralize Magyar through personal attacks. Pro-government videos focused on Magyar's tight trousers, zooming in on his crotch. He countered by posing with bananas and posting viral banana-shake videos. He uses the clown emoji to signal disdain for the government. Film-maker Tamas Topolanszky, who chronicled Magyar's rise in a documentary called Spring Wind, described the approach as "unconventional but effective." Magyar "knows how to provoke the establishment to keep his name on the agenda," Topolanszky said. "He is extremely fast, does his own social media and understands what makes a meme."
Women at a recent rally acknowledged Magyar was "no saint" but said they would still vote for him. "I don't want to marry Magyar," said Olga, a 63-year-old teacher. "I just want him to get rid of Orban." Film producer Claudia Sumeghy, who spent time with Magyar, said he treated women as equals and pointed to the many female leaders in Tisza's regional branches.
Imre, a 45-year-old entrepreneur from Tura, a small town outside Budapest, summed up the sentiment. Orban's son-in-law Istvan Tiborcz bought a chateau in Tura and turned it into a boutique hotel no local can afford. Magyar, Imre said, "is clean despite the best efforts of Fidesz, who have tried to smear him for two years, to no avail."