In a latest update, Hungary has just announced its election results, and Peter Magyar is set to become the new prime minister.
This latest regime change came after Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban, after 16 years of dominant rule, conceded defeat following a landmark election on April 12, 2026.
Preliminary results showed how his Tisza party gained a stunning two-thirds supermajority, winning an estimated 136 of the 199 seats in parliament.
A record-breaking turnout of nearly 78% signaled a massive desire for change as Magyar has vowed to revive Hungary’s economy, which has been stagnant since early 2022 and intends to improve ties with the EU as well.
The victory also marks a major shift for Hungary moving away from Orban’s “illiberal” policies toward a pro-European path.
In a televised address to his supporters, Orban admitted the loss, stating that the election results are “painful for us but clear.”
With votes in 98 percent of precincts counted, Magyar’s center-right party has secured 138 seats in the 199-seat parliament and 53.6 percent of the vote.
Whereas Orban’s Christian nationalist Fidesz party won 55 seats with 37.8 percent of the votes, according to official results.
In a victory speech to tens of thousands of supporters gathered along the Danube River in the capital Budapest on Sunday, 45-year-old Magyar said, “Tonight, truth prevailed over lies.”
“Today, we won because Hungarians didn’t ask what their homeland could do for them; they asked what they could do for their homeland. You found the answer. And you followed through. ”.
Peter Magyar:
Peter Magyar, whose last name literally means Hungarian, was born in Budapest in March 1981 into a family of lawyers.
Additionally, he is also the great-nephew of Ferenc Madl, who was president of Hungary from 2000 to 2005, overlapping with part of Orbán’s first term as prime minister from 1998 to 2002.
After completing his degree in law at the Pazmany Peter Catholic University near Budapest in 2004, Magyar started his career in corporate law.
Political journey:
At university, he joined Orban’s Fidesz, which by then was in opposition, after failing to secure a majority in the 2002 election, despite securing most seats.
Peter Magyar, as a young boy, was inspired by Orban and his politics because of the manner in which he led Hungary’s pro-democracy protests in 1989 against the Soviet Union and the Moscow-backed communist leadership in Budapest.
“There was a surge of energy around the regime change that swept me up as a child,” Magyar said.
In September 2006, Magyar legally assisted Orban’s Fidesz party on a no-fee basis.
In 2010, when Fidesz returned to power and Orban became prime minister again, Magyar was appointed as an official in the ministry of foreign affairs.
In 2011, he joined the Permanent Representation of Hungary to the European Union in Brussels.
Since his entry into politics, Magyar always served as a loyal Fidesz official. But a scandal in 2024 soured his relationship with the party.
In April 2024 he decided to join the center-right Tisza Party as a candidate in the 2024 European Parliament elections and Hungary’s national elections in 2026.
Finally, he won a seat in the European Parliament, representing the Tisza Party and on sunday April 12, his party won the Hungarian elections by a landslide, and he is projected to become the country’s next prime minister.
