DEBRECEN, Hungary - Pounding the campaign trail ahead of European elections, the emerging leader of the opposition to Hungary’s nationalist government has managed to grab the support of a well-known screen actor to help draw crowds.

Mr Ervin Nagy, known from Hungarian films such as the historical horse-racing adventure Bet On Revenge and Oscar-nominated drama On Body And Soul, is lending celebrity power to Mr Peter Magyar as the politician’s own star rises.

Mr Magyar has drawn tens of thousands of people to his rallies since shooting to prominence in February on the back of a scandal that hit Prime Minister Viktor Orban.

Mr Nagy took to the stage at the latest gathering on May 5, in Hungary’s third-biggest city, Debrecen – a stronghold of Mr Orban’s Fidesz party.

Accusing the government of populism, cronyism and corruption, Mr Magyar’s campaign is raising hopes for a “system change”, the actor said earlier.

The campaign is growing so fast, he had to lend the politician his pick-up truck to stand on for a speech at one spontaneous rally.

“We didn’t have time to get a stage,” said Mr Nagy, 47.

“There’s a revolutionary mood, like in 1956,” he said – a reference to the historic uprising against Hungary’s Soviet-backed communist rulers.

Mr Nagy helped organise May 5’s rally and said earlier that he planned to appear on stage alongside any other celebrities who are “brave enough” to join.

Mr Magyar, 43 and a self-declared conservative, has led a political group since April which aims to be “neither right nor left” to challenge Mr Orban.

He is now touring the central European country ahead of EU elections on June 9.

Mr Magyar seized the initiative in February when an ally of Mr Orban, Ms Katalin Novak, resigned as president after it was revealed she had pardoned a convicted accomplice of a child abuser.

It was the biggest scandal to hit Mr Orban in his 14 years as premier and sparked the fiercest protests he has yet faced, according to analysts.

In less than three months, Mr Magyar’s Tisza (Respect and Freedom) party has eclipsed the rest of the opposition heading into the European elections.

A recent survey by pollster Median showed the party had 25 per cent support.

Mr Nagy said he had not been involved in politics before – but Mr Magyar only took an hour to convince him to join the campaign.

He believes the EU member country under Mr Orban has been turned into a “kind of dictatorship-lite”.

Since returning to power in 2010, Mr Orban, 60, has changed laws to restrict independent media, civil society, arts and culture.

“If someone is defiant, if they go into opposition, or at least criticise the powers that be, there are consequences,” Mr Nagy told AFP.

He said he has been blacklisted himself after making a comment critical of a senior Fidesz member.

One producer was told that their film would not get financing if Mr Nagy was in it, the actor said.

Mr Nagy said Mr Magyar could reach “millions of people who have (so far) preferred to stay away and not participate in the democracy just because they were so apathetic and frustrated” with the current opposition.

“Now the arrival of a sensible, open-minded, determined, brave guy has suddenly galvanised hundreds of thousands of people.”

Tough battle

But Mr Magyar faces tough resistance.

Mr Orban has brushed off the challenge, but nonetheless “Fidesz has been making serious efforts to nip this movement in the bud”, said political analyst Zoltan Lakner.

Posters commissioned by Fidesz have sprung up across the country, depicting Mr Magyar as “Brussels’ humble servant” alongside other opposition politicians.

He also faces negative coverage by media close to Fidesz, ranging from serious domestic abuse accusations, which he denies, to sneering at his “woman’s sunglasses”.

In April, he said he came under investigation by the Sovereignty Protection Office, a controversial new government agency set up to curb foreign influence.

Mr Magyar’s supporters say his strength lies in knowing the system from the inside.

A lawyer by training, he worked for years as a diplomat in Brussels.

His ex-wife is a former Orban ally: former justice minister Judit Varga.

His appearance in the Orban stronghold of Debrecen was a test of how far his popularity has spread.

Mr Magyar’s biggest challenge, said Mr Lakner, is to quickly build up his party, finding qualified people who do not pose a political risk of causing “a lot of trouble later on”.

“But if Magyar manages to unite opposition voters behind him, he can present a viable alternative for dissatisfied voters.” AFP