Politics Peter Magyar is Hungary's new prime minister
The Hungarian parliament has elected Peter Magyar as the new prime minister. 140 out of 199 MPs voted for the conservative politician, 54 against him and one abstained. Four MPs did not take part in the vote. Magyar replaces the right-wing populist Viktor Orban after 16 years in power.
09.05.2026, 14:55
SDA
"Today is officially the first day of system change," Magyar said before entering the parliament building in the morning with the parliamentary group of his Tisza party (Respect and Freedom). The new head of government himself comes from Orban's Fidesz party (Federation of Young Democrats), but had demonstratively broken with it two years ago and offered himself as an alternative to Orban, who ruled in an increasingly authoritarian manner and seemed to be leading the country into a dead end economically and in terms of foreign policy.
The Tisza party clearly won the parliamentary elections on April 12 with 53 percent of the vote. In the new parliament, it has 141 out of 199 seats and thus a constitutional two-thirds majority. Orban's Fidesz (Federation of Young Democrats) won 39% of the vote and 52 seats. The far-right party Our Homeland (Mi Hazank) won just under six percent of the vote and has six MPs. All other parties failed to reach the five percent threshold.
The fight against corruption is a priority
During the election campaign, Magyar had promised to make Hungary a "humane and functioning country". He has declared war on the allegedly deep-rooted corruption under Orban. He wants the prosecution of politicians and public officials suspected of corruption to be carried out in accordance with the rule of law.
Magyar also wants to release the approximately 18 billion euros in EU aid that the EU has frozen due to the rule of law violations and corruption risks under Orban. To this end, he and his future Foreign Minister Anita Orban entered into intensive negotiations with the Brussels Commission before the change of government.
