How the Manipulative Roundtable Behind Peter Magyar and his Party Works

Pollsters with leftist ties have formed a web-like cooperation aimed at influencing voters' party preferences, specifically to present the Tisza Party as a credible challenger to the governing parties. The "brain" of this manipulative roundtable is the 21 Research Center. The organization closely collaborates with the Iranytu Institute, which performs most of the data collection, and Median, which "measured" the largest lead to date for Peter Magyar’s party in the fall.

Peter Magyar (Source: MTI/MTVA)

Six months later, 444.hu, funded by George Soros's organizations, compiled a report on the pollsters. Here, participants in the manipulative network made self-revealing statements. For example, Daniel Rona, head of the 21 Research Center, mentioned that before the 2022 elections , a "research council" was set up by the opposition’s campaign center.

"The central campaign staff called in pollsters to discuss the situation," recalled Rona, who also attended these meetings. He admitted that the surveys suggesting a close race between Fidesz and the Left were not up to standard.

Explicitly aiming to influence public opinion

Endre Hann, Median's head, also talked about public opinion manipulations and falsified surveys. He admitted that some surveys, or rather press releases, were explicitly designed to influence public opinion. Regarding his own involvement, he said:

"Yes, there were times when I exercised self-censorship and even suggested that this election might be close. Because the fact is that public opinion polls do influence people."

Zoltan Ember, a senior researcher at the increasingly Median-aligned Iranytu Institute, made a similar "confession". He explained in an interview that a few days before the elections, he had data indicating that the Left was trailing by 14–18 percent, yet he said that he expected the opposition to lose between six to eight percent, which would not have brought a two-thirds victory for Fidesz. The researcher explained with psychological pressure that he eventually convinced himself of the accuracy of these data.

Foreign money at 21 Research Center

It is worth recalling the activities and background of the 21 Research Center, as they were the first to publish survey results indicating that the Tisza Party had taken over the lead from the Fidesz and the Christian Democrats (KDNP). Foreign funding of this organization is evident, as shown by the projects listed on their website. Their list of supporters includes well-known globalist NGOs, liberal organizations, foundations, and even the European Commission. Projects funded by the European Commission’s CERV program are listed alongside grants from the European Liberal Forum, the German Marshall Fund, and the Action for Democracy, a key organization in the 2022 foreign campaign financing scandal. It should be noted here that the issue of money from the US was also investigated by the national security services, which concluded that Hungary's sovereignty was seriously damaged by foreign interference in the elections.

Joint project in the capital

In the past, the 21 Research Center and Median worked together in a joint project conducted in Budapest. Mandiner reported in April 2023 that the company Budapest Brand had signed a contract with Median and 21 Research Center, managed by Daniel Rona, for the performance of six public opinion poll-related tasks, the development of questionnaires, data collection and analysis, at a net value of 14 million 875 thousand forints plus VAT.

Daniel Rona, an old leftist cadre

Coincidences are rare. It is widely known that Budapest Mayor Gergely Karacsony used to work for Median, as did Daniel Rona. Rona has long been a left-wing expert, having worked for Szeged Mayor Laszlo Botka, a former member of the Hungarian Socialist Party (MSZP), and for leftist parties such as the Dialogue, Momentum, and Peter Marki-Zay, the failed prime ministerial candidate in 2022. He now appears to be working to enhance Peter Magyar's and the Tisza Party’s election prospects. Notably, Anita Seprenyi, a former employee and project manager at the 21 Research Center, now works as Peter Magyar’s press officer and assistant.

Another node in he web

Another key player in the network is the Iranytu Institute, established in 2011 and owned by Richard Forrai, a businessman close to Jobbik at the time. The think tank previously advised Jobbik and conducted research for the party, and was funded by Jobbik's parliamentary group with substantial sums of money.

Following the Jobbik-Simicska coalition, Iranytu was awarded significant contracts between 2015 and 2018. But Jobbik, embroiled in an illicit party financing scandal, was barely able to fund the institute's operations after paying a gigantic fine.

The Iranytu Institute received more work following the start of the left-wing alliance and the arrival of dollars from abroad. In late 2021, the institute faced the biggest scandal when data from a study commissioned by the united left's campaign staff was published by 444.hu. This study, unlike others from the leftist think tanks, revealed that the opposition was heading for a catastrophic defeat. This research by the Iranytu Institute and the 21 Research Center was conducted with assistance from American advisors using American methodology, Index revealed. So the two research institutes were already working together in December 2021.

Later, in April 2022, a few weeks after the parliamentary elections, theIranytu Institute conducted a  survey, again commissioned by the 21 Research Center, which found that three quarters of opposition voters believe that Ferenc Gyurcsany's withdrawal from public life would improve the chances of a change of government.

Revealing company data

These examples also make it clear that in the network, the primary task of the Iranytu Institute is to collect data, and the main client is the 21 Research Center, which – as outlined above – is connected to the Tisza Party in several ways. This division of labor is also confirmed by a comparison of the revenue of Iranytu and Median in recent years. The Iranytu Institute, which was in a state of stagnation for a long time after the collapse of Jobbik, has been growing in revenue in recent years, while Endre Hann's company is just keeping afloat. Official company information shows that the former had a net revenue of 544 million forints in 2023, while Median had only a fifth, around 118 million forints.

Perhaps even more telling is the fact that the number of employees at the Iranytu Institute jumped dramatically after July 2024, with the number of employees quadrupling from 4-6 at the end of last summer to around 18 at the end of last year, according to the company register. By November, the number of employees had fallen somewhat, but is still between 10 and 12. The jump may have been due to a sudden increase in tasks, indicating that Iranytu Institute carries out data collection work for the left-wing manipulation network.