Hungary's PM hopeful accuses opponents of planning blackmail ahead of election

Less than two months before Hungary's election, opposition leader Peter Magyar has accused his rivals of planning to blackmail him with a secretly recorded sex tape, and says he is filing a complaint with authorities.

Magyar, who leads long-time Prime Minister Viktor Orban in the polls, said he suspected there were plans to release a tape of him from August 2024, when he says he engaged in consensual sex with a now ex-girlfriend at a party.

He was responding to a photo recently posted online of a bedroom in an apartment dating back to then.

Leading figures in Orban's Fidesz party said they knew nothing about the claims. The BBC has approached Orban's spokesman for comment.

In a statement on Friday, Magyar accused Fidesz of trying to blackmail him and made three allegations of unlawful conduct.

Although no video has been published, he said one from that date would have been "recorded with secret service equipment and possibly faked".

Magyar made no mention in his statement of the ex-girlfriend he had been with at the time of the alleged incident, although he said on Thursday he had accused her of extortion 15 months ago - an allegation she denied.

She told Hungarian media that they were both victims regarding the alleged illicit video and she was ready to take legal action with him.

Magyar accused Fidesz leaders of timing their campaign to coincide with the start of his nationwide campaign next week, and of trying to ruin the last week he was spending with his three sons ahead of the April election.

Fidesz communications director Tamas Menczer accused Magyar of lying, and Viktor Orban's chief of staff Gergely Gulyas told reporters he could not comment on something he knew nothing about.

Orban, Hungary's nationalist leader, has been in office for 16 years, but with parliamentary elections on 12 April, Magyar's centre-right Tisza party is at least eight points ahead in the latest opinion poll by Hungary's Idea Institute.

Orban's Fidesz party has so far focused its campaign on attacking the European Union, accusing Brussels of trying to bring down his government. He is seen as Vladimir Putin's closest ally in Europe and has called on the EU to stop sending money to Ukraine.

The election campaign is not even due to start until 21 February, but Peter Magyar's allegations of dirty tricks are an indication of how murky the next few weeks may become.

Magyar has built support across Hungary over the past two years, promising to reset relations with Hungary's European partners.

A one-time Fidesz loyalist, he was once married to former justice minister Judit Varga, whose political career ended during a scandal in 2024. They divorced the previous year.