Magyar becomes Hungary’s PM, ending Orban’s era

Hungary’s Peter Magyar took his oath of office on Saturday to become the country’s new prime minister, ending Viktor Orban’s 16 years of autocratic rule.

Magyar’s centre-right Tisza party defeated Orban’s nationalist-populist Fidesz in a stunning blow last month, gaining more votes and seats in Parliament than any other party in Hungary’s post-Communist history.

The win, which gave Tisza a two-thirds parliamentary majority, will allow it to roll back many of the policies that gave Orban a reputation among his critics as a far-right authoritarian.  In a speech to lawmakers in Hungary’s Parliament after being sworn in, Magyar said he would not use his office to “rule” Hungary, “but to serve my homeland.”

“I’m not standing here because I’m different from anyone else in the country,” Magyar said. “I stand here because millions of Hungarians decided that they want change. And this trust that we have received is both a weight of honour and a moral obligation, but also a wonderful feeling.”

 Magyar has vowed to restore democratic institutions and governmental checks and balances that were heavily eroded during Orban’s rule, and to clamp down on alleged corruption. His government is expected to transform political dynamics within the European Union, where the former prime minister had upended the bloc by frequently vetoing key decisions, most recently concerning support for neighbouring Ukraine.

Magyar, a 45-year-old lawyer who founded Tisza in 2024 after years as an insider in Orban’s party, entered the sprawling neo-Gothic parliament building alongside 140 of his party representatives. Tisza now controls 141 seats in Hungary’s 199-seat parliament. Orban’s Fidesz-KDNP coalition controls 52 seats, down from 135, while the far-right Mi Hazank party holds six seats.

The 199 representatives took their oaths of office at around 11 am local time. Orban was not among them for the first time since Hungary’s first post-Communist Parliament was formed in 1990.

Magyar earlier called on Hungarians to attend an all-day “regime-change” celebration on Kossuth Square outside Parliament to mark his inauguration and the end of the Orban era. Thousands had already gathered in the square as the new representatives were sworn in, many waving Hungarian and EU flags and wearing Tisza T-shirts.

As the crowd watched the proceedings inside Parliament on large screens, cheers erupted whenever Magyar appeared.

Hungary’s new national assembly has 54 women lawmakers, most from the Tisza party - more than a quarter of the total and the most in Hungary’s history.

One attendee, Andrea Szepesi, an economist from Budapest, said it was “about time” that more female lawmakers held seats in Parliament. Under Orban’s rule, there were fewer women in government than in nearly all of the EU’s other 26 nations.

“Finally, women are able to participate in this new, beautiful democratic system and the flourishing of the country,” she told The Associated Press.