Hungary election aftermath

Péter Magyar said Hungary could have a new government in the first week of May, days after his election win ended Viktor Orbán’s 16 years in power. (apnews.com) Magyar said after meeting President Tamás Sulyok that parliament could nominate him at its inaugural session and his cabinet could be sworn in by mid-May, or sooner. Reuters reported that Sulyok would ask him to form the next government under Hungary’s constitutional process. (yahoo.com) The election result was a landslide. Politico reported that with nearly all votes counted on April 12, Magyar was set to win 138 seats in Hungary’s 199-seat parliament, while Orbán’s Fidesz party was on track for 55. (politico.eu) That margin would give Magyar a two-thirds supermajority, enough to change laws and begin dismantling parts of the system Orbán built across the judiciary, state companies and the media. Orbán conceded defeat on election night. (politico.eu) Magyar used his first days after the vote to target state media, saying news broadcasts should be suspended until “objective, impartial reporting” can be restored through a new media law. On state television and state radio, he called the current operation a propaganda machine. (politico.eu) State media sits at the center of the post-election fight because Orbán’s governments spent years tightening control over Hungary’s information system. Politico reported that Orbán gradually took over about 80 percent of the country’s media during his 16 years in office. (politico.eu) Magyar also tied his first reform package to money frozen by Brussels. Reuters reported on April 14 that Hungary has about 17 billion euros in suspended European Union funds, blocked over rule-of-law concerns, and that European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen told Magyar there was “swift work to be done” on reforms. (whbl.com) Before the election, Politico reported that freeing that money would not be automatic even if Orbán lost, because the European Union’s conditions cover corruption controls, judicial independence and other institutional changes. Magyar campaigned on the promise that he could move faster than Orbán did. (politico.eu) He has also called on President Sulyok to resign, arguing that top officials appointed under Orbán should step aside as power changes hands. Bloomberg reported that Magyar directed early attacks at both the president and state institutions shaped by Orbán’s rule. (bloomberg.com) The immediate test is timing: whether Hungary shifts power in early May, as Magyar now says is possible, or waits until mid-May for a formal swearing-in. Either way, the first measures he is advertising are aimed at the same two pressure points — state control at home and frozen European Union money abroad. (apnews.com)