Péter Magyar was inaugurated as Hungary’s prime minister on Saturday, closing the book on Viktor Orbán’s 16-year autocratic reign. The center-right Tisza party leader took the oath of office after a landslide election win last month that gave his party a two-thirds parliamentary majority, despite a late push from U.S. Vice President Vance and an endorsement from former President Trump.
“I’m not standing here because I’m different than anyone else in the country,” Magyar told lawmakers in his inaugural address, according to The Associated Press. “I stand here because millions of Hungarians decided that they want change. And this trust that we have received is both a weight of honor and a moral obligation, but also a wonderful feeling.”
The 199 members of Hungary’s parliament were also sworn in on Saturday, marking the first time since 1990—when the first post-Communist Parliament convened—that Orbán was not present. Tisza now holds 141 seats in the governing body, while Orbán’s Fidesz-KDNP coalition controls just 52. The far-right Mi Hazánk (Our Homeland) party holds six seats.
Magyar invited Hungarians to an all-day “system-changing national festival” in Budapest’s Kossuth Square outside Parliament to celebrate his inauguration. “Let’s write Hungarian history together, and step through the gate of the regime change as one!” he wrote on X on Friday.
The new prime minister has pledged to restore Hungary’s democratic institutions, which critics say were systematically eroded under Orbán as he consolidated power. He also vowed to repair the country’s fractured relationship with the European Union, which worsened due to Orbán’s ties to Russian President Vladimir Putin. In a symbolic move, the EU flag was raised on the Parliament building’s facade on Saturday for the first time since 2014, when the previous government removed it.
Shortly after the April election, Magyar made his first appearance on Hungary’s public broadcaster in nearly two years, announcing the government would suspend the station’s news programming until objectivity could be restored, according to AP. This fits into a broader pattern of Magyar's Hungary charting a sharp break from Orbán's illiberal legacy on key policies.
In his inaugural speech, Magyar made clear his intention to hold former Orbán administration officials accountable. “We must understand, however, that there can be no new beginning without reconciliation. There can be no reconciliation without justice. And there can be no justice without confronting the past,” he said.
The transition also opens the door for renewed U.S.-Hungary ties, as Hungary’s new PM Magyar marks end of Orbán era, opening door for U.S. ties. Magyar’s victory is a clear signal that Hungarian voters are ready for a pro-Western, democratic course correction after more than a decade and a half of illiberal rule.
