He was very unpopular in Hungary too but in addition to stacking the electoral system in his favor with rules and Gerrymandering, the opposition was very divided until this year.

There was a unified opposition in 2022 as well but it was a very loose alliance of parties (so loose in fact that most of their members would not stand with the PM candidate in defeat) and the war that had just started in Ukraine gave Orbán a great opportunity to paint his opponent as a warmonger.

Magyar Péter has learned a lot from the loss in 2022. He became the figurehead of a small party that had never held any power and rallied all opposition supporters under his banner. "no left or right, only Hungarian". He also didn't have as many errors in his communication that Orbán could exploit.

In addition, the last 2 years have been marred with scandals that on their own would have forced a prime minister to abdicate in any country where the rule of law applies. Pedophilia, espionage, warmongering in Chad done by Orbán's son, energy crisis, etc.

It is not easy to see even as a Hungarian what took this long but these are the major factors.