BUDAPEST, Hungary (AP) — A European Parliament committee rejected on Tuesday a bid by the Hungarian prime minister that would lift the legal immunity from prosecution for one of its lawmakers who is Viktor Orbán ‘s main political rival.

Péter Magyar, who heads Hungary’s largest opposition party, Tisza, represents the most serious challenge to Orbán since the right-wing populist leader took power in 2010.

Orbán’s government had requested that Magyar’s immunity be lifted so he could face charges for alleged offenses that include theft of a mobile phone in a Budapest nightclub and defamation against a member of Orbán’s Fidesz party.

Once an insider within Orbán’s political circle, Magyar broke with Fidesz to launch Tisza. Recent polls suggest it has overtaken Fidesz amid a chronically weak

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