Peter Magyar – the person who ended 16 years of power as Prime Minister of Hungary

The results of counting 98.15% of the total votes in the April 12 election in Hungary showed that Mr. Peter Magyar’s Tisza party will hold 138 out of 199 seats in the parliament, exceeding the 2/3 majority needed to form a government without building a governing coalition, as well as being able to pass major changes to the law and constitution. Prime Minister Viktor Orban’s Fidesz party won about 55 seats.

Prime Minister Orban, 62 years old, admitted defeat on the same day, describing this as a “painful result”, showing that the Fidesz party “is no longer trusted by the people with responsibility and leadership opportunities”. This result ends Mr. Orban’s 16 years in power, and Mr. Magyar, 45 years old, is expected to be Hungary’s next Prime Minister.

Magyar was born in 1981 into a family of traditional conservative lawyers. He became interested in politics when he was 9 years old, and once had pictures of Hungarian politicians covering the walls of his house in Budapest. Among these was Mr. Orban, a prominent young lawyer in the democracy movement in Hungary at that time.

“From an early age, I was swept up in the bustling atmosphere surrounding the change of government,” Mr. Magyar shared on the Fokuszcsoport podcast in 2025.

Magyar attended high school at a prestigious Catholic boys’ school near central Budapest, then studied law at Pazmany Peter Catholic University, graduating in 2004. During university, Magyar met Judit Varga, a rising star of Fidesz, the party he joined in 2002.

Magyar married Varga in 2006 and has three sons. The whole family came to Brussels, Belgium to live when Ms. Varga was chosen as a policy advisor to Hungarian parliamentarians in the European Parliament for the period 2009-2018.

Mr. Magyar describes himself as a man of faith who enjoys cooking and playing soccer with his friends and children. People who know Magyar say he is a perfectionist, quick-tempered, but also willing to apologize when he realizes his shortcomings.

Ms. Varga returned to Hungary in 2018 and was appointed Minister of Justice by Prime Minister Orban a year later, while Mr. Magyar worked for a state-owned bank, then led a student loan agency.

Mr. Magyar divorced Ms. Varga in 2023. In the same year, Ms. Varga left her position as Minister of Justice to represent Fidesz to run for the European Parliament in June 2024. However, this plan collapsed when Fidesz was involved in a scandal that shook the ruling party in early 2024.

Then-Hungarian President Katalin Novak pardoned a former official convicted of helping cover up child abuse at an orphanage. The developments have affected the image that Mr. Orban has built that the government is a protector of family values. Those involved in the amnesty, including Ms. Varga, resigned.

“This is when Hungary needs to find someone who can challenge Mr. Orban,” Peter Kreko, a political scientist at the policy institute Political Capital, headquartered in Budapest, told CNN. “And Mr. Magyar went into politics.”

In February 2024, Magyar had a notable interview with Partizan news agency, in which he accused Prime Minister Orban and his allies of “hiding behind women’s skirts” during the amnesty scandal. Magyar also revealed information that he said was “obtained thanks to his time working closely with the ruling elite”.

“A few families control half the country,” Mr. Magyar said. The interview video attracted nearly 3 million views in a country of less than 10 million people.

In March 2024, Magyar said he wanted to participate in the European Parliament elections, but did not have time to form a new party. He chose to join Tisza, a party established in 2020 but not very prominent, and quickly rose through the ranks, becoming the leader of this party. Tisza then won nearly 30% of the vote in the election, giving the party 7 seats in the European Parliament.

Magyar increasingly stands out for its commitment to fighting corruption and improving public services. He attracted support amid economic stagnation, seeking to connect with voters by repeatedly visiting towns and cities, and often staying for hours after his speech to meet with locals.

During the election campaign, Magyar focused on domestic issues such as the economy and corruption, while Mr. Orban mainly focused on foreign policy and relations with world leaders.

According to expert Kreko, Mr. Orban did not find an effective strategy to deal with Magyar. Understanding how the system works, Magyar can “stay one step ahead” and prevent attacks before they take effect.

In February, Magyar accused Fidesz of wanting to bring him down by threatening to publish a secretly filmed video of him in “a private moment with his girlfriend” in 2024.

“Yes, I am a 45-year-old man, I also have a sex life. With an adult girlfriend. You cowards in Fidesz, just release it all,” Mr. Magyar wrote on Facebook, helping to quell the scandal.

At the same time, Magyar makes it difficult for Fidesz to label him as a liberal politician. While Prime Minister Orban repeatedly attacked Ukraine, Magyar took a similar approach, but avoided in-depth discussions on foreign policy.

This silence makes some worry that Hungary under the Magyars may hinder the European Union’s efforts to support Ukraine. However, Mr. Mujtaba Rahman, director of European affairs at Eurasia Group, said that many people in Brussels understand that Mr. Magyar is simply trying to avoid creating “weaknesses” for Fidesz to exploit.

The victory of Tisza’s party could impact relations between Hungary and the EU, including the ability to promote cooperation processes and resolve previously existing disagreements.

However, many Hungarians, even those opposing Mr. Orban, are still cautious about Mr. Magyar.

“Mr. Magyar has assembled a very broad coalition, from the conservative right to progressive liberals and the hard left,” Mr. Kreko said. “Whether Magyar can maintain this alliance or not is still unknown.”