Yet in some key battleground seats in urban areas, polling suggests that a united liberal-left opposition may still defeat Fidesz without Jobbik’s support. And one of those is Budapest 1 — an oddly drawn parliamentary district that straddles the Danube and contains many of the city’s most famous landmarks, including the national Parliament.

Mr. Gyurcsany’s party has pulled out of the race, as has Peter Juhasz, the leader of Together, a small liberal party. That leaves Andras Fekete-Gyor, the leader of Momentum, a new centrist party; and Antal Csardi, a senior figure within Politics Can Be Different, another young centrist party. Both men are polling between 7 percent and 10 percent — far behind Marta V. Naszalyi, who represents a pair of socialist parties, and is on 19 percent.

Ms. Naszalyi says that she should be the unity candidate, since she clearly has the most support. But Mr. Fekete-Gyor and Mr. Csardi have refused to budge.

That’s partly out of pride. Mr. Fekete-Gyor and Mr. Csardi are leaders within their respective parties, and believe they are too senior to leave the race. It’s also because of money. The more seats in which a party runs, the more state funding it receives.

But it’s mainly a symptom of the same political dynamic that brought Fidesz to power eight years ago. Fidesz won a landslide victory in 2010 because of the perceived incompetence and arrogance of the old left-wing politicians — people like Mr. Gyurcsany and parties like the Socialists. In an attempt to re-energize the left, new parties emerged — like those of Mr. Fekete-Gyor and Mr. Csardi.

And both say they should not concede to the groups that let Fidesz into power in the first place. “The way I see it,” said Mr. Csardi, “these old left-wing parties neither morally or ethically have a place in Parliament.”