Hungary’s election winner Peter Magyar, called Monday on the country’s president to convene the parliament to form a new government “as quickly as possible,” in hopes that he can take over from Viktor Orban as prime minister as early as May 5. Speaking at a news conference after his Tisza party’s victory Sunday, Magyar said they received “a never-before-seen mandate.” That super-majority would allow Tisza to embark on an ambitious program and reforms.
“The Hungarian people didn’t vote for a simple change of government, but for a complete change in regime,” he said. Magyar thanked Moscow and Beijing for offering their congratulations and willingness to work with Hungary’s new government. “Hungarians said yesterday they will write their history, not in Moscow, not in Beijing, not in Washington,” he added.
In his campaign, Magyar pledged to end Hungary’s drift toward Russia and restore its ties with European allies. He promised voters that after 16 years of autocratic governance and the erosion of the rule of law under Orban, he will root out corruption and create a “peaceful, functioning and humane” Hungary.
But what those changes will look like remains to be seen. During his long time in office, Orban ruled with the power of a two-thirds parliamentary majority, allowing him to pass a new constitution, rewrite the electoral system and reshape the judiciary. Magyar’s Tisza party secured exactly such a mandate Sunday when it won 138 of parliament’s 199 seats, giving it broad authority to undo much of the legislation that allowed Orban to stack the courts, manipulate the electoral system, crack down on press freedom and discriminate against the LGBTQ+ community. Still, there are potential pitfalls that could stand in the way of the radical changes many Hungarians had hoped for.
Historic win
Magyar’s victory was met with jubilation on the streets of Budapest late Sunday with tens of thousands, many of them young people, celebrating what they view as a ray of hope that Orban’s loss will make Hungary freer, firmly rooted within the fold of European democracies.
