Foreign Policy > Hungary

Orban Versus Magyar: What Happened?

Viktor Orban wasn't as good as many believe, and Peter Magyar may be better than many people expect. 

Arthur Schaper | April 22, 2026

Viktor Orban, the valiant populist, the restorer of the Christian faith in Hungary, the welcome thorn in the side of the EU Establishment, and the strong ally of President Trump since his first bid for office, has lost his own re-election bid. I had a feeling it would come to this.

Sixteen years of uninterrupted administration as a strong force for conservative, right-wing nationalist populism have come to an end, at least under Orban’s leadership.

Sometimes, voters have a strange fatigue when it comes to governments. Fourteen years of a “Conservative” UK government ushered in the Labour Party in 2024. However, fatigue doesn’t explain Orban’s crushing loss.

Corruption charges and the argument that his administration had looked the other way when sex abuse scandals broke out at a local school.

Economics also reared its ugly head when the EU cut off its funding. Orban’s supposed lack of judicial reforms, as well as his uniform check on EU policy, frustrated Brussels.

Orban faced a crisis election, and inviting US VP JD Vance to campaign on his behalf didn’t help.

Why would Hungarian voters care what a foreign politician thinks? This desperate move only exacerbated how out of touch the Orban government had become. Critics also saw him as too close to Russian “president” Vladimir Putin and unhelpful in resolving the Russo-Ukrainian war. The EU had been waiting for this opportunity: an unpopular Orban facing electoral collapse.

They were salivating for a post-Orban Hungary, one that would stop its Christian restorationism, welcome more LGBT promotion, tolerate more spending, and open its borders.

Would the Orban replacement accomplish their scheme?

His challenger, Peter Magyar, was trained and prepped as an Orban acolyte.

In........

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