In a stunning turn of events, Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orbán lost his bid for a fifth consecutive term on Sunday after voters turned out in numbers not seen since the fall of communism in the 1990s.
Voters — fueled largely by concerns about entrenched government corruption — overwhelmingly chose Péter Magyar, a 45-year-old lawyer and politician who until several years ago was a staunch Orbán loyalist.
He burst onto the scene as an opposition leader in 2024, rising rapidly to become the leader of the center-right Tisza Party, which won a two-thirds majority in Sunday's parliamentary election. Orbán, who has led Hungary for 16 years, conceded and congratulated Magyar less than three hours after polls closed.
In a victory speech delivered to a sea of jubilant supporters on the banks of the Danube River, Magyar reiterated his promises to rebuild Hungary's ties with the European Union and NATO, root out corruption and cronyism and "restore the system of checks and balances."
The country has economic incentive to do so: Since 2022, the EU has frozen billions of dollars' worth of funding for the country because it said Orbán was violating key democratic values. Magyar said the country will "never again allow anyone to hold free Hungary captive or to abandon it."
"Today we won because the Hungarian people didn't ask what their country could do for them, but what they could do for their country," he said, evoking U.S. President John F. Kennedy, as some spectators chanted "Europe, Europe."
Magyar's landslide victory is "truly unprecedented" for many reasons, says Abel Bojar, research director at the polling platform Europion.
"If you think about the kind of political headwinds that … Magyar had to sail against, such as the funding asymmetry that his party had against the state apparatus of Orbán, media access, the novelty of the party — I mean, he built up a whole machine at extreme levels of professionality in two years," Bojar told NPR on Sunday. "And the list goes on."
Magyar has made a lot of promises to re-democratize the country, and his party now has the parliamentary majority needed to make constitutional changes to that end. But, Bojar says, critics — and even cautious observers — question whether he will follow through.
"I'm not in a position right now to give you a yes or no answer, but it's certainly a political risk that he will abuse this opportunity," he added.
On Monday, Magyar called on Hungary's president to convene parliament to form a new government as soon as May 5. Here are 5 things to know about Magyar as he prepares to take the helm.
1. A scandal fueled his rise
Magyar, who began his career as a judge and lawyer, spent much of his professional life as half of a now-fractured political power couple.
He and his then-wife, Judit Varga, spent years living with their children in Brussels, where she was a policy adviser to Hungarian members of the European Parliament and he worked as a diplomat. A 2025 Politico ranking of European political figures described Magyar as a "key but discreet insider" during that time.
In 2019, Varga was tapped as Hungary's minister of justice under Orbán. Back in Hungary, Magyar's jobs included running the state-owned Student Loan Centre and the legal department of the Hungarian Development Bank. The couple divorced in 2023 (more on that below).
At that point, Magyar was a longtime supporter of the prime minister. He has said in recent years that he had a poster of Orbán — then a liberal anti-communist — on his bedroom wall during his childhood in Budapest, and joined Orbán's Fidesz party in college.
But things changed in early 2024, when Fidesz was rocked by scandal.
Hungary's then-president, Katalin Novák, pardoned a former official convicted of covering up abuse of underage boys at a state-run children's home. The incident had widespread repercussions for a party that campaigned in part on protecting family values: After a public outcry, Novák resigned — as did Varga, who had also signed the pardon in her role as justice minister.
At that point, Magyar, leveraging his perspective as a former insider, began to publicly criticize Orbán's government. In an instantly-viral 2024 video interview with the Hungarian outlet Partizán, he accused the government not only of corruption but of scapegoating female leaders like his ex-wife, saying he didn't want to be part of a system where the "real culprits hide behind women's skirts."
Magyar's message resonated — in millions of video views and at public rallies he organized that spring, as he launched a new political movement.
Rather than waste time registering a party from scratch, just months before the European Parliament election in June 2024, he revived the inactive Tisza party (whose full name translates to the "Respect and Freedom Party"). The party went on to win 30% of the vote, and Magyar became a member of the European Parliament.
2. He has weathered controversies
Magyar has blamed the end of his marriage to Varga at least in part on political disagreements. Notably, just months before their divorce was finalized in 2023, he secretly recorded one of their conversations.
In it, Varga was talking about an attempt by government aides to interfere in a corruption case. Magyar released that recording in the wake of the pardon scandal the following year, which only added fuel to the fire and credence to his corruption claims.
The Hungarian prosecutor's office ultimately found no evidence to support further investigation, but the outcry — to the recording and the pardon incident itself — prompted Varga to resign from public life altogether in 2024.
Varga has accused Magyar of verbal and physical abuse, including locking her in a room at one point during their marriage, and described his secret recording as an act of "betrayal."
Magyar has denied the allegations, which he dismissed as "propaganda" by Orbán's government in an attempt to discredit his nascent political career.
He similarly accused the government of trying to undermine his campaign with what he called a "honey trap" operation.
He filed a police report in February, after photos of a bedroom circulated online hinting at the existence of a sex tape. Magyar said they were from a 2024 incident in which he says a then-girlfriend lured him to a Budapest apartment after a party and secretly recorded their consensual encounter using illegal "secret service means."
"The authorities must also investigate who ordered the crimes. I will help: they should be searching the government headquarters," he said. It is not clear if such an investigation happened; no video was ultimately released.
3. His family name is a recognizable one
Magyar comes from a family of prominent conservatives in Hungary, according to EuroNews. His grandfather was the well-known lawyer and TV personality Pál Erőss, and his godfather Ferenc Mádl was the president of Hungary from 2000 to 2005.
Even his surname is fit for politics: "Magyar" translates to "Hungarian" in English.
"'Péter Magyar' is an almost too-perfect Hungarian name. It'd be like a guy named 'Johnny America' running for President of the United States," historian Aaron Astor tweeted on Sunday.
4. He's been vague on some hot-button issues
While Magyar campaigned largely on fighting corruption, restoring democratic norms and reviving Hungary's economy, his stance on some other divisive issues is less clear.
He largely avoided talking about LGBTQ+ rights on the campaign trail. Homosexuality is legal in Hungary, though the government banned Pride events last year. At the time, Magyar criticized the decision as a distraction from other issues affecting citizens, and said his government would protect the right to assembly, but steered clear of an explicit statement in support of that cause.
Magyar has also been relatively quiet about Ukraine, in contrast to the Kremlin-friendly Orbán. On Monday, after his election, Magyar said if Russian President Vladimir Putin were to call, he would pick up the phone and tell him to end the war in Ukraine.
"It would probably be a short phone conversation and I don't think he would end the war on my advice," he said, according to the Associated Press.
Ukrainian president Volodymyr Zelenskyy congratulated Magyar and his party on their win, writing on social media that "it is important when a constructive approach prevails."
"We are ready for meetings and joint constructive work for the benefit of both nations, as well as peace, security and stability in Europe," Zelenskyy wrote.
5. Western leaders welcome him — with one exception
European politicians have celebrated Magyar's victory, which European Union Commission President Ursula von der Leyen called a "victory for fundamental freedoms."
Congratulatory messages have also poured in from the leaders of France, Spain, Poland, Romania, Denmark, Ireland, the United Kingdom, Sweden, Slovenia, Germany and others.
In the U.S., lawmakers from both parties welcomed Magyar's win.
Senate Armed Services Committee chair Sen. Roger Wicker, R-Miss., interpreted it as Hungary's rejection of Putin. Some Democrats went even further, with House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries and Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer warning that this fall's midterm elections could similarly spell trouble for President Trump.
"Pay attention, Donald Trump. Wannabe dictators wear out their welcome," Schumer tweeted. "November 2026 can't come soon enough."
Trump has not weighed in on Magyar's win, despite his vocal endorsements of Orbán ahead of the election. Vice President Vance spoke at a rally for Orbán in Budapest last week, as the prime minister appeared to lag in the polls.
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