Hide the Pain Harold and Rubik’s Cube creator among social media’s picks for Hungarian president

Newly elected Tisza party asked public to put forward names, which have ranged from the sensible to the bizarre Eszter Jámbor, a 46-year-old content creator who focuses on sex education, had a different kind of question for her Instagram followers last week: who did they think should be Hungary’s next president? The suggestions ranged from reality TV stars to bodybuilders and the Victoria’s Secret model Barbara Palvin. But another anonymous online poll asking Hungarians the same question revealed the most popular candidate to be András Arató, a retired electrical engineer who found global online fame as a meme: Hide the Pain Harold. Katalin Karikó, the Nobel-winning biochemist, and Ernő Rubik, the inventor of the Rubik’s cube, were also popular choices. “Obviously, politics are serious, but there’s also room for a bit of humour, for that sense of freedom that a part of Hungary is now feeling after the past 16 years,” said Jámbor. Since ousting its rightwing populist leader Viktor Orbán in a milestone election earlier this year, the central European country has been living through a period of rapid political change. The man who succeeded Orbán, Péter Magyar, has