by the way, before other nations get the bright idea to take hungary's win as proof that "vote x no matter who" is a valid election tactic, let me make it super clear that no it is not. that is not at all why the opposition could win after 16 years.
to make an incredibly long story short, and to use the words of magyar péter, the reason they won with a landslide is because they put in the work.
for months prior to the election, the party (which btw was an insignificant party until mere two years ago when magyar joined) with magyar péter as their main guy, toured the country to an unprecedented degree. they went to small cities and places which have been neglected by all sides for decades, with magyar always giving a speech. and, perhaps most importantly, talking to and with the people there directly.
people have been wanting a new approach, new people for years and they utilized this well: they involved the public in their operations and nominee selections via social media/apps, and formed a strong team made up of actual experts of various fields, some known some unknown, but all fresh faces. they also spoke against fidesz while explicitly being against blaming fidesz voters.
in 2022 we did have a "vote x no matter who" moment, where the campaign of the (coalition party!) opposition did not do the above listed crucial strategic points, and fidesz won with the most votes they've ever gotten.
the moral of the story should be that everyday people, regardless of their political views, need to feel heard, seen and involved. and they need to be talked to as people, even if their views are misinformed, hateful, or straight up unacceptable. the far right knows this, which is why they can gain popularity time and time again.
political parties and leftist people alike, especially in countries which are in a similar situation as ours, need to understand that they cant win just by saying they are the better choice. they have to show up unrelentingly, prove that they are different in tangible ways, be consistent with what they stand for, put in years of nonstop work and, perhaps most importantly, be as close to the people as possible.
