BUDAPEST, Hungary — Péter Magyar was sworn in as Hungary’s prime minister on Saturday, formally ending Viktor Orbán’s 16-year grip on power after a landslide election victory that has reshaped the country’s political landscape.
The pro-European centre-right leader took office during a ceremony in Budapest one month after his Tisza Party secured a commanding parliamentary majority in national elections.
The outcome marked a dramatic political shift in a country where Orbán and his nationalist Fidesz movement had become a defining symbol for populist right-wing politics across Europe and beyond.
Moments after taking the oath of office, Magyar declared that Hungarians had voted not only for a new administration but for systemic change.
“A mandate not only to change the government, but to change the system as well. To start again,” he said.
Magyar accused the previous administration of overseeing widespread corruption and vowed accountability for officials linked to alleged abuses of power.
“Orbán’s associates and the elite have a long way to go until they are confronted with what they have done,” he said.
The new premier also renewed calls for several Orbán-era appointees to resign, including Tamás Sulyok, who had formally nominated him to form a government moments earlier.
Outside Parliament, thousands of supporters gathered to celebrate what many described as the end of a politically divisive era.
Crowds cheered as the new Speaker of the House, Ágnes Forsthoffer, announced that the European Union flag would be restored to the Parliament building after it was removed in 2014 under the Fidesz administration.
Magyar pledged to rebuild democratic institutions, improve relations with the EU, and create what he described as a more inclusive and hopeful Hungary.
“What connects us will be stronger than what divides us,” he said.
“Hungary will be home for every Hungarian, and everyone can feel like they have a place in the Hungarian nation.”
The election victory represented a remarkable rise for the 45-year-old politician, who until early 2024 had been relatively unknown outside Hungary’s political circles.
A former insider within Fidesz, Magyar broke ranks with Orbán’s government and emerged as one of its fiercest critics, accusing the administration of weakening democratic institutions while enriching political allies.
His Tisza Party won 141 seats in Hungary’s 199-member parliament, giving it a dominant majority and the political leverage needed to pursue sweeping reforms.
Orbán, 62, who transformed from a pro-democracy activist into one of Europe’s most prominent nationalist leaders, will no longer sit in Parliament for the first time since Hungary’s democratic transition in 1990.
The former prime minister recently announced plans to focus on reorganising his political movement outside government.
Magyar has vowed to dismantle systems established during Orbán’s tenure, including institutions critics say were stacked with loyalists across the judiciary, media, and state bureaucracy.
He has also promised to repair relations with Brussels and work to unlock billions of euros in frozen EU funds tied to concerns over the rule of law and governance standards in Hungary.
Saturday’s ceremony also reflected broader symbolic changes promised by the new administration.
The incoming government announced that more than a quarter of lawmakers in the new parliament are women — the highest proportion recorded in Hungary’s post-communist history.
Meanwhile, lawyer Vilmos Kátai-Németh is set to become Hungary’s first visually impaired cabinet minister after being appointed to oversee social and family affairs.
