Péter Magyar has officially been sworn in as Hungary’s new Prime Minister, almost a month after he swept away his predecessor, Viktor Orban, in parliamentary elections that brought an end to the latter’s 16 years in power.
His opposition Tisza party won a landslide victory in parliamentary elections. His party has secured a huge parliamentary majority, winning 141 of the 199 seats.
Magyar, 45, who leads the centre-right Tisza party, propelled into office on promises of change after years of economic stagnation and strained ties with key allies, including the European Union, under Orban.
Magyar’s rise to Prime Minister is widely regarded as a remarkable feat. He was largely unknown in Hungarian politics until early 2024, when he became embroiled in a public dispute with Orban’s ruling Fidesz party, of which he had previously been a prominent member.
The landslide victory, in which Tisza won 141 seats in the 199-seat parliament, was a stunning outcome for Magyar, who until recently had been a little known former member of Fidesz’s elite.
He burst into public view in early 2024, after he turned on the party, laying bare the inner workings of a system he described as rotten and accusing officials of expanding their power and wealth at the expense of ordinary Hungarians.
Magyar has vowed to use his large majority to undo the systems built by Orbán, who had stacked the country’s judiciary, media and state with loyalists as he sought to turn Hungary into a “petri dish for illiberalism.”
Beyond the country’s borders, Magyar has also vowed to rebuild Hungary’s long-strained relationship with the EU and work with the bloc to unlock billions in frozen EU funds. Hints of this change were symbolically placed through the plans for Saturday’s swearing in: several anthems were to ring out, paying tribute to Hungary’s EU membership, its sizeable Roma minority, and ethnic Hungarians in neighbouring countries, while the lawyer Vilmos Kátai-Németh was to become the country’s first visually impaired Minister, taking on the portfolio of social and family affairs.
More than a quarter of lawmakers will be women; a record high in the country’s post-communist history. The newly elected Speaker of the house, Ágnes Forsthoffer, was also sworn in.
The new parliament marks the first time since the country’s democratisation in 1990 that Orbán – whose decades-long career saw him shift from pro-democracy campaigner to a Russia-friendly figure lauded by the US Maga movement – will not sit in parliament. Late last month Orbán, 62, said that he would instead focus on the reorganisation of his movement.
This iterates the actions Magyar has taken in the weeks since the election, as he sought to emphasise the end of what he described as Hungary’s “two-decade-long nightmare”; vowing to suspend broadcasts from state media that functioned as Orbán mouthpieces, calling on Orbán-era appointees to resign; meeting twice with EU officials, and sending back the millions of Hungarian forints donated to him by an Orbán-linked supporter.
The task Magyar and his government face is huge. His promises to fix the country’s crumbling public services will come up against the country’s stagnating economy and a stubbornly high budget deficit. Meanwhile, it remains to be seen how the many Orbán loyalists in media, academia and the judiciary will react to change.
Magyar Urges People To Join In Writing Hungarian History
Speaking at the ceremony, Magyar invited Hungarians to join him to “write Hungarian history” together and “step through the gate of regime change.”
Magyar faces several challenges in his new role, including restoring Budapest’s relations with the EU, reviving the economy, and tackling a budget deficit that had reached almost three-quarters of its full-year target by April.
The new Prime Minister aims to strike a deal with the EU that would unlock around $20bn in frozen funding. The money was withheld over concerns about worsening human rights under Orban and a decline in the rule of law.
During Orban’s tenure, Hungary drifted further away from the EU as ties with Moscow deepened. The former Prime Minister used his veto in the European Council to oppose sanctions on Russia and block support for Ukraine.
The newly elected Speaker of the house, Ágnes Forsthoffer, announced that the EU flag would be returned to the building after it was taken down by Fidesz in 2014.
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