Hundreds of thousands of Hungarians filled the streets of Budapest on Thursday in competing demonstrations as supporters of the country’s two main political movements staged mutual shows of strength before next spring’s national election.

The rival rallies were a standoff between nationalist Prime Minister Viktor Orbán and his main political challenger, Péter Magyar, who looks set to present the long-serving Hungarian leader with the most competitive ballot in his 15 years in power.

The election is due in April, but an exact date for the vote hasn’t been set.

Orbán’s supporters gathered on a bridge spanning the Danube River on Thursday morning and began marching toward Hungary’s towering neo-Gothic parliament.

The rally, dubbed a “peace march” by organizers, came on Hungary’s Oct. 23 national holiday, a remembrance of a failed anti-Soviet uprising in 1956 that was crushed by the Red Army.

Participants shouted slogans backing Orbán and his message that foreign powers threaten to push Hungary into direct involvement in Russia’s war in Ukraine.

At the front of the march, one large banner read: “We don’t want to die for Ukraine”.

Addressing the crowd in a speech riddled with hostility for both Ukraine and the European Union — regular subjects of his ire — Orbán accused Kyiv’s European backers of having brought the EU into the war, and of being willing “to send others to die”.

He also has vehemently opposed Ukraine’s ambitions to join the 27-nation EU and has argued for an immediate ceasefire in the conflict, though he hasn’t addressed what that might imply for Ukraine’s territorial integrity or European security amid continuing Russian aggression.

Later in the day, throngs of supporters of opposition leader Magyar filled one of Budapest’s central squares and adjacent avenues for their own demonstration — both an anti-government protest and a show of support for Magyar and his center-right Tisza party.

Marchers shouted anti-government slogans, as well as “Russians go home!” — a refrain from Hungary’s 1956 anti-Soviet rebellion and a modern reference to many people’s view that Orbán has drawn the country too close to Moscow.

Magyar, a 44-year-old lawyer and former insider within Orbán’s Fidesz party, burst into political prominence last year, and has focused his message on bread-and-butter issues affecting the majority of Hungarians: persistent inflation, poor health care, and increasingly salient allegations of government corruption.

He recently ended an 80-day tour of the country where he held scores of town hall-style forums, giving speeches and taking questions from attendees.

Speaking to the crowd of his supporters that filled Budapest’s sprawling Heroes’ Square, Magyar accused Orbán of impoverishing the country by misusing public funds, and of turning Hungarians against one another.

However, he also struck an inclusionary tone, encouraging his supporters to embrace their political opponents following next April’s election.

The dueling marches on Thursday were seen as a barometer of which politician had more energy behind his campaign as the election nears.

Orbán is lagging in the polls behind Magyar’s Tisza, and with six months before the ballot, the prime minister has struggled to reinvigorate his base.

Still, the EU’s longest-serving leader remains popular among a sizable portion of Hungary’s voters, and on Thursday was able to successfully mobilize many thousands to Budapest in his support.