How Hungary's Péter Magyar went from Viktor Orbán's ally to ending his 16-year rule
Magyar once idolized Viktor Orbán but recently became disillusioned with ruling party
When Péter Magyar was a child, he taped a photo of Viktor Orbán, then an anti-communist firebrand, on his bedroom wall, thrilled by Hungary's first democratic elections in 1990.
Decades later, he ended Orbán's 16-year rule as prime minister in an election that brought a record-high turnout and was expected to rattle Russia and send shockwaves through right-wing circles across the West, including U.S. President Donald Trump's White House.
Magyar's center-right, pro-European Union Tisza party beat Orbán's nationalist Fidesz party in Sunday's parliamentary election. Partial results showed Tisza would win 137 seats, or a two-thirds majority, in the 199-seat parliament.
Only nine years old when communism collapsed, Magyar said he had decorated his walls with photos of leading political figures in his Budapest family home.
Orbán, then a young lawyer, had become a hero of Hungary's pro-democracy movement when he publicly demanded in 1989 that Soviet troops leave the country.
"There was a surge of energy around the regime change that swept me up as a child," Magyar told the Fokuszcsoport podcast last year.
Magyar, whose family name literally means "Hungarian," burst into the limelight two years ago after his ex-wife, Orbán's former justice minister Judit Varga, resigned from all political roles after a sex-abuse case pardon that caused public uproar.
Magyar quickly distanced himself from the governing party and accused it of corruption and spreading propaganda, saying he had become disillusioned with Fidesz.
Just four months after emerging from near-total obscurity with an interview at YouTube channel Partizan, Magyar’s new party won 30 per cent in the June 2024 European elections, finishing second to Fidesz and crushing the rest of the opposition.
Broad implications
Orbán's defeat has significant implications not only for Hungary but for Europe and its populist far right.
Orbán has sought to create what he calls an "illiberal democracy" since 2010, curbing media freedoms and NGO activities, and weakening the independence of the judiciary.
He has forged good relations with Russian President Vladimir Putin and also with Trump, but he has clashed repeatedly with the EU, which suspended billions of euros in funding due to concerns over Hungary's democratic standards.
By contrast, Magyar has pledged to rebuild Hungary's Western orientation and end its dependence on Russian energy by 2035 while striving for "pragmatic relations" with Moscow. He has also promised to unlock the frozen EU funds, which would help revive Hungary's stagnant economy.
"On the first day we need to pass anti-corruption measures and we need to submit our application to join the European Prosecutor's Office," Magyar said on Sunday morning after casting his vote.
But he has trodden carefully during the election campaign, keen not to scare away more conservative voters.
Unlike Orbán, he does not reject in principle Ukraine's right to join the EU one day, but Tisza's program does not support fast-track entry for Kyiv. Like Fidesz, Tisza opposes EU quotas for taking in migrants, and it would also keep in place a border fence built under Orbán to keep out illegal migrants.
But analysts say tensions between Budapest and the EU — further aggravated by Orbán's veto of a 90-billion euro (around $146 billion Cdn) aid package for Kyiv — could ease under Tisza.
"Orbán has lost faith in the current form and direction of European integration, and is pursuing a policy of vetoes and obstruction," said Botond Feledy, a geopolitical analyst at Red Snow Consulting.
"Tisza has no objection in principle to integration and would pitch its battles at a practical level."
'Conflict with the system'
Magyar drew from Orbán's playbook in this election, waging a grassroots campaign that took him into Fidesz's rural heartlands.
His rallies always featured lots of national flags, in an Orbán-style appeal to Hungarian voters' patriotism.
His consistent and clear messages, and skilful use of social media have all contributed to his rapid rise, said Gabor Toka, senior research fellow at the Vera and Donald Blinken Open Society Archives.
"Many people are also reassured by the story of someone who has irrevocably come into conflict with the system, and has no way back," he said, referring to Magyar's break with Orbán.
Born in 1981 into a family of lawyers, Magyar also studied law. He married Varga in 2006, and when her career took her to Brussels, Magyar joined Hungary's diplomatic corps and worked on EU legislation.
After returning to Hungary, he joined a state bank and then headed a student-loan agency.
Magyar and Varga, who divorced in 2023, have three sons.
Magyar describes himself as religious and says he enjoys cooking and playing soccer with his friends and sons.
Asked in December how he had changed since going into politics, Magyar alluded to media reports that describe him as short-tempered, saying: "Now I count to 10."
After 16 years in power, Hungary's Orbán concedes 'painful' election loss to rival Magyar
Record voter turnout delivered election result with global repercussions
Hungary's Orbán concedes 'painful' election loss to Magyar following 16 years in powerHungarian voters on Sunday ousted long-serving Prime Minister Viktor Orbán after 16 years in power, rejecting the authoritarian policies and global far-right movement that he embodied in favour of a pro-European challenger in a bombshell election result with global repercussions.
Election victor Péter Magyar, a former Orbán loyalist who campaigned against corruption and on everyday issues like health care and public transport, has pledged to rebuild Hungary's relationships with the European Union and NATO — ties that frayed under Orbán. European leaders were quick to congratulate Magyar.
It's not yet clear whether Magyar's Tisza party will have the two-thirds majority in parliament to govern without a coalition. With 93 per cent of the vote counted, it had more than 53 per cent support to 37 per cent for Orbán's governing Fidesz party and looked set to win 94 of Hungary’s 106 voting districts.
It's a stunning blow for Orbán, a close ally of both U.S. President Donald Trump and Russian President Vladimir Putin. Orbán conceded defeat after what he called a "painful" election result.
"I congratulated the victorious party, Orbán told followers. "We are going to serve the Hungarian nation and our homeland from opposition," he said.
In a speech to tens of thousands of jubilant supporters at a victory party along the Danube River in Budapest, Magyar said his voters had rewritten Hungarian history.
"Tonight, truth prevailed over lies. Today, we won because Hungarians didn't ask what their homeland could do for them — they asked what they could do for their homeland. You found the answer. And you followed through," he said.
Some of those who rallied along the Danube were former Orbán supporters.
"Sixteen years ago, I voted for Orbán's party and I was so happy that they won with two-thirds, and ever since it has been a struggle to keep the hope up," Emőke Csernus told CBC News.
"This was 16 years in the making, and we made it happen."
Some in the crowd praised Magyar's Tisza party for its historic win and others calling for Orbán to be imprisoned.
Orbán, the European Union's longest-serving leader and one of its biggest antagonists, has travelled a long road from his early days as a liberal, anti-Soviet firebrand to the Russia-friendly nationalist admired today by the global far-right.
During his tenure, many Hungarians grew increasingly weary of Orbán, 62, after years of economic stagnation and soaring living costs as well as reports of oligarchs close to the government amassing more wealth.
The landslide victory of the Tisza party is also expected to mark a turning point for Hungary, which under Orbán battled with its EU neighbours while developing closer ties with the Kremlin.
As the swelling crowd of voters celebrated by singing traditional Hungarian songs, they also repeatedly chanted, "Russian go away."
Mark Szekeres, 22, had Hungarian flags painted on his face, but waved a large blue-and-gold EU flag by his side.
"This election was about a clash of civilizations. Either you belong in a Western-type democracy or an Eastern-type dictatorship," he told CBC News.
Turnout by 6:30 p.m. local time was over 77 per cent, according to the National Election Office, a record number in any election in Hungary's post-communist history.
The parties of both Orbán and Magyar said they had received reports of electoral violations, suggesting some results could be disputed by both sides.
"I'm asking our supporters and all Hungarians: Let's stay peaceful, cheerful, and if the results confirm our expectations, let's throw a big, Hungarian carnival," Magyar said.
Mark Radnai, Tisza's vice-president, also called for reconciliation after a tense campaign. "We can't be each other's enemies. Reach out, hug your neighbours, your relatives. It's the day of reunification."
'Choice between East or West'
The EU will be waiting to see what Magyar does about Ukraine.
Orbán has repeatedly frustrated EU efforts to support Ukraine in its war against Russia's full-scale invasion, while cultivating close ties to Putin and refusing to end Hungary's dependence on Russian fossil fuel imports.
Recent revelations have shown a top member of Orbán's government frequently shared the contents of EU discussions with Moscow, raising accusations that Hungary was acting on Russia's behalf within the bloc.
Orbán occupied an outsized role in far-right populist politics worldwide.
Members of Trump's Make America Great Again (MAGA) movement are among those who see Orbán's government and his Fidesz political party as shining examples of conservative, anti-globalist politics in action, while he is reviled by advocates of liberal democracy and the rule of law.
After casting his vote, Magyar told reporters that the election was "a choice between East or West, propaganda or honest public discourse, corruption or clean public life."
Casting his ballot in Budapest, Marcell Mehringer, 21, said he was voting "primarily so that Hungary will finally be a so-called European country, and so that young people, and really everyone, will do their fundamental civic duty to unite this nation a bit and to break down these boundaries borne of hatred."
During his 16 years as prime minister, Orbán launched harsh crackdowns on minority rights and media freedoms, subverted many of Hungary's institutions and has been accused of siphoning large sums of money into the coffers of his allied business elite, an allegation he denies.
He also heavily strained Hungary's relationship with the EU. Although Hungary is one of the smaller EU countries, with a population of 9.5 million, Orbán has repeatedly used his veto to block decisions that require unanimity.
Most recently, he blocked a 90-billion euro ($145 billion Cdn) EU loan to Ukraine, prompting his partners to accuse him of hijacking the critical aid.
With files from CBC's Briar Stewart
Viktor Orbán spent 16 years building Hungary's 'illiberal' democracy. On Sunday, he may be voted out
A number of independent polls suggest Orbán’s party trails the opposition Tisza, led by Péter Magyar
Viktor Orbán's long rule could be ended by pivotal Hungary electionIn the hours before polling stations opened up across Hungary, while candidates wrapped up last-minute campaigning in cities and villages spanning the Hungarian plains, a sense of nervousness swept through the electorate ahead of what's being seen as a pivotal vote.
Independent polls have suggested that Viktor Orbán's Fidesz party could lose to the opposition party Tisza, which is led by Péter Magyar, a one-time Fidesz loyalist-turned-challenger.
Loyal supporters of Hungary's strongman fear an end to his 16-year-rule, while those who have been campaigning against him for years are worried a surge in opposition support still may not be enough to clench the two-thirds majority they covet.
"I'm really scared ... to be honest," said 26-year-old Gergely Lázár, who spoke to CBC News while attending a Tisza rally in the Hungarian town of Újfehértó.
"Viktor Orbán has been in his position for a very long time, and I don't think it will be very easy to give up his power."
Long-time leader
Orbán, who is the European Union's longest-serving prime minister, is a polarizing figure at home and abroad.
His critics accuse him of creating an iron grip on the state by exerting control over the judiciary and the media, and enabling rampant corruption.
But his self-described quest to create a so-called illiberal democracy in Hungary has earned him praise from the far right as well as some in the U.S. MAGA movement.
Orbán's vision is for a democracy that is not bound by liberal norms but that prioritizes family, country and what the state considers traditional values. His approach has coincided with more state control, hostility toward foreign institutions and independent media, along with anti-immigration policies.
U.S. Vice-President JD Vance visited Budapest earlier this week to openly lend his support to Orbán's re-election campaign.
Orbán's friendly ties with Washington and Moscow, and his fractious discord with the EU, mean Hungary's election is being closely watched by many more than the nearly ten million people who live in Hungary.
The outcome of the election has the potential to reshape the country's international relations.
Lázár, who works as an architect in eastern Hungary and has considered leaving the country because of the political climate, sums up the choice voters need to make.
"It's very simple," he said. "We decide between West or East, Europe or Russia."
Party loyalist to challenger
Lázár spoke to CBC News as he waited for Magyar to show up for one of his final campaign stops on Saturday, which included visiting a district that is traditionally considered a Fidesz stronghold.
Magyar, whose last name means Hungarian, admitted to being inspired by Orbán when he was young, even taping a picture of him to his wall.
But two years ago, after his ex-wife who was serving as Orbán's minister of justice resigned because of public backlash over a pardon related to a sex-abuse case, he called out the party, accusing it of corruption and propaganda.
During one of the campaign rallies on Saturday, he repeatedly compared Orbán's government to the Mafia.
"Hungarian history is being written here on streets and squares," Magyar told the crowd on Saturday.
"Not in Moscow, not in Brussels, not in Washington."
While Magyar focused much of his campaign on domestic issues, like health care, education and infrastructure, he and his party are pro-European Union and want to reset ties with other member countries.
EU friction
Billions of euros worth of funds have been frozen by the European Commission because of concerns related to Hungary's democratic backsliding, including instances of corruption and lack of rights and freedoms for minority groups.
Hungary, which is heavily reliant on Russian oil and gas, has repeatedly clashed with the EU over Ukraine, and Orbán has repeatedly blocked or delayed aid and loans for Kyiv as well as sanction packages targeting Russia.
Most recently, Orbán has accused Kyiv of not acting fast enough to repair the Druzbha pipeline, which Ukraine says was damaged in a Russian drone attack.
The pipeline carries Russian oil to eastern and central Europe. As part of the dispute over the repairs, Orbán has been trying to block a 90 billion euro loan to Ukraine.
The Ukraine factor
The war in Ukraine has been at the centre of Orbán's re-election campaign, which is designed to foster fear around the idea that Hungary could be dragged into the conflict at any moment.
Images of Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy are plastered on Fidesz posters, suggesting that Hungary's opposition could lead the country into war,
At a rally on Friday in Székesfehérvár, a city southwest of Budapest, Orbán went as far as to say that the choice to be made in Hungary's election was about whether to support him or Ukraine's president.
In the same speech, Orbán repeatedly said he is the only leader who can deliver peace and security. It's a message that seems to resonate with Fidesz supporters.
Listening in a crowd of hundreds waving Hungarian flags was 18-year-old Milan, who didn't provide his last name.
He said that he believes the current government has made Hungary a good place for young people. While wages might be higher in countries like Germany, he said peace and stability are most important and are what's at stake in this election.
Election observers
The election is being observed by local and international monitors, including a team from the Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe (OSCE). In a recent report, it noted that much of the campaigning in the run-up to the vote has been "underpinned by increasingly fear-mongering messaging."
The OSCE noted concerns around the electoral districts, which were redrawn in December 2024 and have been criticized as being favourable to the ruling government.
Hungarians do not directly elect the prime minister, but elect 199 members of parliament through a mix of voting for local representatives and selecting from national party lists.
"We can say with confidence that there is very heavy gerrymandering," said Andrea Virag, the strategic director of Republikon Intézet, a Budapest-based independent think-tank that is focused on democratic governance and public policy.
Virag said she considers the country’s election to be free but not fair, given that the majority of the media are either controlled by or affiliated with the government and that the lines between party and state funds are extremely blurred.
"Average citizens cannot follow anymore when state funds are being used, when Fidesz is using their own resources, they have essentially become one and the same."
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Foreign Correspondent
Briar Stewart is a CBC correspondent, based in London. During her nearly two decades with CBC, she has reported across Canada and internationally. She can be reached at briar.stewart@cbc.ca or on X @briarstewart.
Trump administration doing all it can to get Hungary's Orban re-elected
Viktor Orban has solicited testimonials from allies around the world amid pitched battle with Peter Magyar
U.S. President Donald Trump wants it be known that Hungarians should re-elect Viktor Orban, in case it wasn't already abundantly clear.
"I was proud to ENDORSE Viktor for Re-Election in 2022, and am honored to do so again," Trump said in a Truth Social post on Tuesday night.
In truth, Trump has backed Orban at least twice before already this year. He also lavished praise on Orban's bid for a sixth term as Hungary's prime minister on TruthSocial last month, and on Sunday he sent a video message to the Hungarian version of the Conservative Political Action Conference.
U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio travelled to Budapest in February and publicly backed Orban. That visit earned a rebuke from Democratic Sen. Ruben Gallego, who pointed out that Rubio, in his previous role as a senator, signed a 2019 bipartisan congressional letter expressing concerns that Hungary was on a downward trajectory away from democratic government.
If that weren't enough, Vice-President JD Vance — who has lectured Western European countries about the perceived shortcomings of their free speech provisions — will travel to Hungary to visit Orban, who was once called a "free press predator" by Reporters Without Borders.
Mutual admiration societies
As the Republican party swung farther right from the presidencies of George W. Bush to Trump, conservatives have become enamored with the Hungarian prime minister. Orban received a warm welcome at CPAC in 2022 and events hosted by American think-tanks. The Heritage Foundation, instrumental in developing the Project 2025 blueprint for a Trump return to the presidency, has praised Orban, "under whose leadership in Hungary on immigration, family policy, and the importance of the nation-state is a model for conservative governance.”
Under Trump's second administration, the U.S. could be seen as emulating Hungary in overt displays of Christianity from government podiums, and an antipathy to immigration from Muslim-majority countries, though Republicans haven't been as blunt as Orban's declaration at CPAC in Dallas that "we do not want to become peoples of mixed race."
Some analysts have also detected, in Trump's second term with his outspoken Federal Communications Chair Brendan Carr, an Orban-like attempt to cow and influence private media companies.
Trump, in Tuesday's post, also said that Orban works hard to "grow the economy" and "create jobs," though under his stewardship, Hungary has perennially been among the poorer performers in the European Union. Eurostat, the European Commission's statistical office, placed Hungary's real GDP growth in 2025 as third-last in the EU.
While Trump has bemoaned anything he thinks smacks of "election inteference" on the domestic front — a very broad list that includes a recent Ontario government ad criticizing U.S. tariffs — he has a history dating back to his first term of making his preferences known in foreign elections from Brazil to Israel to Poland. He went a step farther last fall with Argentina, seemingly indicating that a multibillion dollar currency swap to shore up the peso was dependent on their midterm results.
Whether the U.S. cheerleading for Orban this time will hold any sway, or backfire, is yet to be seen.
Trump's threats to make Canada another U.S. state, together with a leadership change from Justin Trudeau to Mark Carney, revived the fortunes of the Liberal Party in last year's election, and weeks later, some thought that Trump's hectoring of allies did no favours for Australia's conservatives, with the Labor Party in that country exceeding pre-campaign expectations for a majority government victory.
The result of this week's election in Denmark is not yet clear, but Trump's threats to take over its semiautonomous territory Greenland were so existential that right-of-centre candidates backed away from previous praise of the U.S. president — none more profanely than a member of the Danish People's Party in Brussels — and focused instead of pressing domestic issues.
Orban's team has also solicited testimonials from friendly voices across the world. The leaders of Israel, Italy and Argentina — as well as actor Rob Schneider, of Deuce Bigalow: Male Gigolo fame — sang his praises in an early campaign video.
Rumours of Orban's downfall have been exaggerated in other elections since he returned to power in 2010 — he was also PM from 1998 to 2002 — as his popularity has been buttressed in campaigns by a barrage of friendly state media coverage and favourable changes to the electoral system.
But polling this year has consistenlly shown Orban to be facing an uphill battle against challenger Peter Magyar of the Tisza party.
Hungarians are not being asked to back a politician at the opposite end of the political spectrum, with Magyar considered centre-right. Until two years ago, Magyar was affiliated with Orban's Fidesz Party.
While in power, Orban has often whipped up support by accusing Budapest-born George Soros of encouraging Muslim immigration and undermining Christianity in Hungary, through the Soros-led Open Society Foundation funding of activist groups and, for a time, a university led by former Canadian politician Michael Ignatieff. It has been an ironic development, since before he swung hard to the right, Orban as a young man received a grant from a pre-OSF Soros organization to study at Oxford University in England.
But Soros, 95, has retreated from public life, and Open Society has a smaller footprint under his son than it had just a few years ago.
If any one person can be said to fit the role of a post-Soros foreign bogeyman this campaign, it is arguably President Volodymyr Zelenskyy from neighbouring Ukraine. Both at the EU and NATO, Orban has often been a minority voice in opposing financial and military support for Ukraine since it was invaded by Russia, led by Orban ally Vladimir Putin.
Last week, Orban infuriated many in the EU by blocking a 90 billion euro aid package ($143 billion Cdn) for Kyiv.
Orban has pushed back on claims his government hasn't been receptive to Ukraine refugees of the four-year war, and tensions between the countries have been exacerbated this year after a crucial pipeline in Ukraine was damaged in January and hasn't been fixed, preventing Hungary from accessing Russian oil. For good measure, Hungary recently temporarily seized millions in Ukraine assets.
The campaign between Orban and Magyar has reportedly been bitter, and the challenger accused the administration of "outright treason" after the Washington Post reported last week, citing a European security official, that Orban's foreign minister had made regular calls during breaks at EU meetings for years to brief his Russian counterpart, Sergei Lavrov.
The minister, Peter Szijjarto, dismissed the report with a familiar-sounding two-word response: "fake news."
Orbán’s defeat may signal shift in Europe’s far-right, illiberal tide says Michael Ignatieff
Viktor Orbán, Hungary’s now defeated prime minister, forced Ignatieff’s university out of the country in 2018
For Michael Ignatieff, news that Viktor Orbán’s 16-year rule in Hungary had come to an end was reason enough to raise a glass.
“My wife is Hungarian,” the former Liberal Party of Canada leader told As It Happens host Nil Köksal. “We did a bit of drinking last night when the result became clear.”
Ignatieff is a professor of history at the Central European University where he served as rector until Orbán forced the university out of Budapest in 2018, prompting it to relocate its headquarters to Vienna. The relocation was part of Orbán’s broader ideological campaign against the university’s founder George Soros, whom he accused of undermining the country by supporting liberal institutions and backing refugees and migrants.
On Sunday, Hungarian voters ousted, Orbán, the long-serving prime minister, rejecting his authoritarian policies and the global far-right movement he came to symbolize in favour of pro-European challenger Péter Magyar.
Maygar, a former Orbán loyalist, has promised to rebuild Hungary’s ties with the European Union and NATO, which frayed under Orbán’s rule.
Ignatieff spoke with Köksal about his reaction to the election, and what Orbán’s defeat and Magyar’s victory could mean for geopolitics. Here is part of that conversation.
Michael Ignatieff, given what you and your colleagues experienced during Orbán's time in office, is today cause for celebration?
Oh, no question. We felt bitter and bruised by being expelled from a country where we had been. We were proud to think we were the best university in the place and to be thrown out and sent to Vienna was, was tough. So it's a great morning.
You returned to Hungary just last week, as I understand it. What struck you upon your return?
We went to a Peter Magyar rally in our little town, which is where my wife was born. And the forecourt of the railway station was completely packed. The mood was electric. The crowd was young. I had a strong sense of momentum. But there was, at that point — this is three, four days before the election — a lot of tension. The country is very, very divided. It was a very bitter campaign with the Orbán team throwing a lot of fantastic allegations out that if Magyar won, he would lure the Hungarian people into war in Ukraine. Nobody could figure out what that could possibly mean. But the scare tactic was out there. And so we had a feeling that Magyar had the momentum, but I think no one anticipated a victory of this size right across the country.
Michael Ignatieff is a historian, author, university professor and former leader of the Liberal Party of Canada. (Submitted by Cundill Prize)You brought up Ukraine. [Magyar] has said that everyone knows Ukraine is the victim in the war with Russia and that he hopes Putin will be forced to end it. Ultimately, what do you think this victory might mean for Ukraine?
I think it's going to make it easier for Europe to get the financing — the €90 billion package ($146 billion Cdn) of financial supports that they've been trying to get through — to get that to Ukraine now will be easier with Magyar in the office. There's no question Orbán was Mr. Putin's closest ally and friend in Europe. So it's a very good day for Ukraine and a bad day for Putin… Zelenskyy played it carefully, didn't seek to provoke Orbán. I'm much more optimistic about Ukraine's chances now.
It's also a bad day for the Trump administration. They sent JD Vance here last week. They sent Marco Rubio, some time before. They tipped the scales very heavily in favour of Orbán, but it had the opposite effect.
And you said ahead of the election … that this kind of a victory would suggest that authoritarian illiberalism in Europe was going into reverse, as you put it. Do you think that that is actually a marker of that?
I hope so, and the wish is father to the thought. A wise American politician once said, ‘All politics is local.’ And that's as true in Europe as it is in Canada or the States. The French election is next year. There's an authoritarian, illiberal challenger. Does Orbán's defeat set them back? Yes, a bit, but it's a year ahead and we just don't know how that'll play out. In Germany, there's an AfD, which is a right-wing party at the edge of the constitutional order. I think in the end, these elections are decided by the voters in each country.
But what I do think has happened is that Orbán was the most influential purveyor of the story that history was favouring illiberal authoritarianism. He famously said at one point… to the Western Europeans, “We used to think you were our future, now we think we are your future.” That sense of historical momentum that Orbán was better at conveying than anybody else, I do think that rhetoric is much more damaged today than it was before this election.
Viktor Orbán reacts after receiving the results of a parliamentary election in Budapest, Hungary, Sunday, April 12, 2026. (Petr David Josek/AP Photo)I wonder what you think it will actually mean for Hungarians, Magyar's victory, because as you well know, his break with Orbán is quite recent. Is he really going to be that different?
His campaigning was different. He spent two years showing up in small villages and small towns on the back of a truck and talking first to 10 people, then to 20, then 40, then last Thursday, it was 500. So he's built a movement from the bottom up and he's made some promises that I think he's really going to be forced to hold to. He's promised, for example, to run only two terms and then quit. He's promising relief from permanent rule. He's made some promises about restoring the independence of the judiciary, making the media free, and crucially for us, leaving universities alone. I think it's going to be pretty easy for his electorate to hold him to those promises.
It is true that he's a centre-right politician. He's not a liberal. He's very clear that he's a conservative, but he's constitutional conservative with a sense that Orbán took the Hungarian political system almost out of constitutional decency and he wants to restore the country back to right-conservative constitutional decency.
Peter
Magyar gestures as he speaks to the media in Budapest, Hungary, Monday,
April 13, 2026, after defeating Prime Minister Viktor Orban's party in
the country's parliamentary elections. (AP Photo/Denes Erdos) (AP)Will the university move back?
I don't think so. We're happy in Vienna, but we have a campus still in Budapest, and so my hope is it will be the last Austro-Hungarian institution left.
What do you think the relationship between Hungary and the U.S. will look like now, given what Magyar has said and given we know what the position of the U S. administration has been?
It's not going to be buddy-buddy. I think the deep linkages between the MAGA movement and Hungarian think tanks and institutions that Orbán founded, that's not gonna be sustained. That'll break. It'll be the relationship between a predatory hegemon on one hand and a small Eastern European country that probably wants to keep its distance and keep its margin of maneuver and doesn't have any illusions that it's going to get an especially warm welcome in the Oval Office.
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Thursday, 19 April 2018
Prime Minister Viktor Orbán's people in Ottawa don't have to listen to the CBC show now that they can read the transcript EH?
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From: David Amos <motomaniac333@gmail.com>
Date: Thu, 19 Apr 2018 05:32:27 -0400
Subject: Prime Minister Viktor Orbán's people in Ottawa don't have to
listen to the CBC show now that they can read the transcript EH?
To: sajto@mfa.gov.hu, chrystia.freeland@
"George.Soros" <George.Soros@
miniszterelnok@mk.gov.hu, informacio.was@mfa.gov.hu,
intcomm@mk.gov.hu, sajto@keh.hu, sonja.wintersberger@unvienna.
anne.thomas@unvienna.org, ugyfelszolgalat@bm.gov.hu, mk@mk.gov.hu
Cc: David Amos <david.raymond.amos@gmail.com>, mission.ott@mfa.gov.hu,
http://www.cbc.ca/radio/
How right-wing populist leaders are eroding democracy: author
The country is not an anomaly. Right-wing populists are leading countries around the world from the Philippines to Italy.
Through this rise of populism, authoritarian tactics are leading to an erosion of democracy, according to Daniel Ziblatt, co-author of How Democracies Die.
"When you have a political leader in any part of the world who's not fully committed to democratic norms (unwritten rules) … when confronting people who are critical of them, it's hard to contain yourself," he told The Current's guest host Laura Lynch.
"It's certainly tempting to try to tilt the playing field, to go after the opposition, to try to capture the referees of the political system."
The Harvard professor explained the problem with this method is that it escalates politics which ultimately leads to "a slow democratic decay."
Orban explicitly articulated a vision of what he calls "illiberal democracy," Ziblatt said, adding that Orban told Hungarian students in 2014 that to be a democracy does not necessarily mean you have to be a liberal democracy.
"So he's tried to carve out a niche for himself and his regime type that's been emulated in Poland, to some degree in Czech Republic and other parts of the world where you know the features of democracy embrace namely the will of the people, the majority."
"But other features of democracy, namely respect for pluralism, respect for diverse views, respect for civil society rights, for minorities — these have been not emphasized to the same degree."
Listen to the full conversation at the top of this page, which also includes Hungarian investigative journalist Andras Petho, recently accused of being a "Soros mercenary."
This segment was produced by The Current's Howard Goldenthal.
Comments
The Current Transcript for April 18, 2018
Host: Laura LynchHow right-wing populist leaders are eroding democracy: author
VOICE 1: Budapest waking up on Monday to a more powerful government with even bolder anti-immigrant, anti-EU ambitions. Hungary's right-wing strongman Viktor Orbán has won a third straight term, an overwhelming majority, and the power to change constitutional laws. The result could deepen divisions within the EU and for the country's liberals it may signal a crushing four years ahead. Top of Orbán’s agenda, a move to ban NGOs that support migration, particularly those backed by U.S. financier George Soros.
VOICE 1: [Sound: French-speaking language]
VOICE 1: Never underestimate the people. Never. I don't think it will ever happen again. And I want you all to know that we are fighting the fake news. It's fake — phony, fake. [Applause.] A few days ago, I called the fake news “the enemy of the people” — and they are. They are the enemy of the people.
Hungary's PM wants a 1-party nation state, opposition MP says
Prime Minister Victor Orban's landslide re-election win puts Hungary at odds with the European Union
Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban won a supermajority re-election on Sunday. (Sean Gallup/Getty Image)His anti-immigration platform, in which he vowed to keep "Hungary for Hungarians" paid off, with a landslide victory in Sunday's elections.
Voters handed Orban a third consecutive term, and his right-wing Fidesz party regained two-thirds of parliament — super-majority that would allow Orban to change the country's constitution.
But his widespread appeal does not extend to the European Parliament.
A draft report circulated this week calls for sanctions against Hungary, for failing to uphold the EU's core values.
Zsuzsanna Szelenyi, an independent MP in the Hungarian parliament, spoke with As it Happens host Carol Off about the situation in Hungary.
Here is part of their conversation.
Viktor Orban promised a white Christian Hungary, free from Muslim migrants. How is he going to deliver on that promise?
I think this is a very strong campaign message. It's very ideological. And actually it's not so complicated to deliver, because there are no migrants in Hungary. And there are no migrants who want to come to Hungary.
The Central European Zone of the [European Union] is traditionally not very multicultural. Because of the communist past there are not many immigrant communities in these countries, including Hungary.
It's important to understand that Viktor Orban doesn't make a usual campaign because his ambitions are not very usual. He wants to change the status quo in Hungary in order to remain in power as long as possible.
And I think he also wants to change somehow the European Union, in order to accept an illiberal, non-pluralistic, one-party state within the European Union.
Therefore he needs to make extraordinary and very bizarre campaigns to mobilize people.
The immigration story is very symbolic. Viktor Orban speaks about a kind of existential threat , hich endangers our European Western culture. And that is what resonates in so many people.
George Soros is, first of all, a conspiracy theory [for Orban].
Through his personality and philanthropic activity and very strong ideology on open society, Orban could find an enemy who could be linked to the immigration issue.
Soros is also a very rich person, and an American — so very distant. Conspiracy theories usually deal with something or someone who is far away and people do not have much information about.
Orban's problem with Soros also goes beyond this conspiracy theory. He is really regarding Soros and his concept of the world — and globalism — an enemy of his system [of] illiberalism.
The press has been dominated by Viktor Orban as a prime minister for years.
The state media has a strong influence in eastern Europe still. But through his cronies, he also controls a significant part of the commercial media.
So outreach to people by the opposition has been very limited. And he used these media outlets for the xenophobic and hostile campaign.
The European Union is moving toward a process that might put sanctions on Hungary for being anti-democratic. Is there going to be a clash between the European Union and Viktor Orban?
Viktor Orban represents a concept which he calls "sovereignist" — while the European Union is a process of integrated countries.
It would be very, very important for the European Union to further integrate, because all of the challenges we are seeing in the world today cannot be solved by any of the smaller European countries alone.
So the EU will struggle with Viktor Orban, because he will make a lot of effort to make his regime acknowledged on a nation-state basis.
Everyone in the world should understand who Viktor Orban is and his ambitions.
He wants to make Western countries approve his one-party system, which is not a democratic system. I think it's a dangerous process.
If he finds political alliances in Europe and elsewhere, that would make Europe's life much more complicated, and probably beyond Europe.
Written by Kevin Ball and Kate Swoger. Interview produced by Jeanne Armstrong and Kate Swoger. Q&A edited for length and clarity.
Comments
However how Viktor Orban handled the IMF and Monsanto years ago caused me to have instant respect for him. He has a fan in me.
http://www.cbc.ca/radio/
Ignatieff says Hungary's PM 'hijacked' his university to settle score with billionaire George Soros
'We've been hijacked:' Ignatieff says Hungary's PM targeted his university to settle a score with billionaire
"He's targeting a free institution. I think he just is worried that we are a threat to him," the former Liberal leader and current president of Central European University (CEU) told As It Happens host Carol Off.
"In fact, we're not any kind of a threat to him. We're actually a university. We get up every morning and do those thrilling things like medieval history and analytical philosophy."
Hungary on Tuesday passed education legislation that would force CEU to close or leave the country — a move that has caused tens of thousands of people to take to the streets in protest.
Hungary's ruling Fidesz party considers Soros an ideological foe who is working against the country's interests by funding liberal institutions and supporting refugees and migrants.
Orban, who received a Soros-funded scholarship in 1989 to study at Oxford University in England, has publicly vowed to go after Soros and "the powers that symbolize him."
"I think there's some weird, uncontrollable, father-son dynamic here that I actually don't understand, don't care about," Ignatieff said.
"I think he thinks that he can take a Soros institution hostage, but we're not actually a Soros institution in the sense that I don't answer to Mr. Soros. I answer to trustees, and it's an independent institution."
CEU will be the only school in the country that faces closure when the law comes into effect on Jan. 1, 2018.
"I honestly feel we've been hijacked," Ignatieff said. "The government wants to get the attention of Washington, the attention of its allies, in support of its refugee and migration policy ... and so they've taken an American institution hostage as if to say, 'Hey, pay attention to us!'"
The government, meanwhile, says the new rules are aimed at combating fraud and foreign influence, and to stop CEU from having an unfair advantage over other local schools by allowing its students to earn both U.S. and Hungarian diplomas.
In Budapest, some 70,000 people rallied in support of CEU on Sunday. It was the third rally in eight days in support of the university, which enrolls over 1,400 students from 108 countries.
With files from The Associated Press
Part 1: Syria: Russia, Michael Ignatieff, United Airlines follow-up
Michael Ignatieff
Mr. Ignatieff is now the President of the Central European University in Budapest. Hungary's Prime Minister Viktor Orbán has passed legislation that threatens to shut it down. He says he's combatting fraud and foreign influence. But he's been met with thousands of people protesting in the streets.
Mr. Ignatieff calls the law an attack on academic freedom. And he's appealing to the outside world for help.
We reached Michael Ignatieff in Budapest.
You know, it's been a, Carol, it's been a very moving and emotional time for us. We haven't started those demonstrations, we don't have any part in them, but boy when you're in a university and someone's parading out your window saying you know “Free universities, free country”, it's pretty pretty strong stuff.
But he construes this as being some kind of threat to his regime. It never is never will be. But none of us here is going to be pushed around, and because we're private and independent and endowed, we can fight back.
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