EU<\/a> and NATO member.<\/p>\nHungarians fed up with corruption handed the conservative Tisza party of former government insider\u00a0Magyar\u00a0a decisive victory, with a two-thirds majority in parliament. The vote saw a record turnout and\u00a0Magyar’s achievement received widespread international praise.<\/p>\n
Magyar, 45, said he would do “everything in our power” to ensure the “beginning of a new era”. Hungarians “didn’t vote for a mere change of government, but for a complete regime change,” he declared.<\/p>\n
He began by promising on Monday to limit the prime minister’s mandate to two terms, “a total of eight years” or half the time that Orban had spent at the helm.<\/p>\n
In power since 2010, Orban has transformed the central European country of 9.5 million people into a model of “illiberal democracy”, making wide-ranging reforms that restricted civil rights and the independence of the judiciary, media and academia.<\/p>\n
Orban, 62, frequently clashed with Brussels, which has frozen billions of euros in funds over rule-of-law concerns.<\/p>\n
\u00a0<\/p>\n
Magyar\u00a0said he was “willing to take on” reforms, including anti-graft measures, to seek to unlock the funds.<\/p>\n
He urged President Tamas Sulyok, an Orban ally, to convene parliament “as soon as possible”.<\/p>\n
The president has 30 days, until May 12, to call a session. And Sulyok said he had invited party leaders to a meeting on Wednesday.<\/p>\n
“Our country has no time to waste. Hungary is in trouble in every respect. It has been plundered, looted, betrayed, indebted and ruined,”\u00a0Magyar\u00a0told reporters.<\/p>\n
Many EU leaders welcomed\u00a0Magyar’s win. The Kremlin said it hoped for “pragmatic” relations with Hungary’s new government, while China \u2014 which Orban also courted \u2014 congratulated\u00a0Magyar.<\/p>\n
Magyar thanked Moscow and Beijing for “being open to pragmatic cooperation, just as Hungary is.”<\/p>\n
Orban conceded defeat on Sunday, saying the message was “painful but unambiguous”.<\/p>\n
Magyar\u00a0was a longstanding supporter of Orban and his Fidesz party before becoming his most serious challenger.<\/p>\n
He stepped into frontline politics just two years ago, promising to fight corruption and offering better public services.<\/p>\n
He garnered support against a backdrop of economic stagnation and despite an electoral system skewed in favour of Orban’s Fidesz.<\/p>\n
Ahead of the vote, U.S. Vice President JD Vance, a fervent supporter of far-right parties in Europe, visited Hungary last week to attend a rally with Orban.<\/p>\n
Vance said Monday he was “sad” that Orban had lost, but promised Washington would work with his successor.<\/p>\n
Trump had promised to back Hungary with the United States’ “economic might” if Orban won a new term.<\/p>\n
Former U.S. secretary of state Hillary Clinton said it was “a significant defeat for (Russian President Vladimir) Putin, for Trump and for the forces of authoritarianism around the world”.<\/p>\n
\u00a0<\/p>\n
The election “could mark a real turning point for Donald Trump’s culture war in Europe”, said Pawel Zerka, senior policy fellow at the European Council on Foreign Relations.<\/p>\n
It gave “confidence (to) pro-European forces across the continent” and meant that association with Trump’s culture war was now becoming “more of a liability than an asset”, he said.<\/p>\n
Orban, who repeatedly blocked EU moves to help Ukraine fight Russia’s invasion, made Ukraine a central campaign issue, portraying Kyiv as “hostile” to Hungary.<\/p>\n
Like Orban,\u00a0Magyar\u00a0opposes sending EU military aid to Ukraine or offering Ukraine a fast-track route to join the 27-nation bloc.<\/p>\n
He reiterated that stance on Monday, saying: “We are talking about a country at war. It is completely out of the question for the European Union to admit a country at war.”<\/p>\n
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