Péter Magyar, the 45-year-old former Fidesz insider who broke with Viktor Orbán two years ago, called on Hungary's president Monday to convene parliament by May 5 so he can take office as prime minister, one day after his Tisza party swept 138 of the 199 seats in parliament and ended Orbán's 16-year grip on power.

The supermajority hands Magyar the same constitutional lever Orbán used to remake Hungary in 2010, and he has pledged to use it to unwind the system his predecessor built. Magyar has promised Brussels that Budapest will stop obstructing a 90-billion-euro European Union loan to Kyiv, a shift that removes one of Vladimir Putin's most useful allies inside the bloc and resets Hungary's standing with the EU, which has frozen billions of dollars of cohesion funding since 2022 over rule-of-law concerns.

What Magyar said

Speaking to a crowd on the banks of the Danube on Sunday night, Magyar framed the result as a rupture with Orbán's foreign policy. "Hungarians said yesterday they will write their history, not in Moscow, not in Beijing, not in Washington," he said, according to PBS NewsHour. He told supporters his government would "restore rule of law and overhaul government structures" and end "Hungary's drift toward Russia."

Orbán conceded less than three hours after polls closed. Turnout was the highest since the fall of communism in the 1990s, NPR reported, with voters citing entrenched corruption as the central issue.

The Ukraine pivot

Magyar's line on Ukraine is a recalibration rather than a reversal. He opposes fast-track EU membership for Kyiv during wartime and is unlikely to reverse Orbán's refusal to send military aid, for fear of alienating Hungarian voters wary of the war next door. But he has told Brussels he will not veto the 90-billion-euro loan Orbán had blocked, which the EU says Kyiv needs to survive.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy congratulated Magyar on social media, writing that "it is important when a constructive approach prevails" and that Kyiv was "ready for meetings and joint constructive work for the benefit of both nations, as well as peace, security and stability in Europe."

Asked Monday what he would say if Putin called, Magyar told reporters he would pick up and urge an end to the war. "It would probably be a short phone conversation, and I don't think he would end the war on my advice," he said, according to The Associated Press.

The Washington angle

The result is a setback for President Trump, who repeatedly endorsed Orbán and dispatched Vice President Vance to headline a Budapest rally for the incumbent last week. European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen called the outcome a "victory for fundamental freedoms." Congratulations also came in from the leaders of France, Spain, Poland, Germany and the United Kingdom.

In Washington, Sen. Roger Wicker, the Mississippi Republican who chairs the Senate Armed Services Committee, read the vote as a rejection of Putin. Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer went further. "Pay attention, Donald Trump. Wannabe dictators wear out their welcome," he posted on X. "November 2026 can't come soon enough."

The hard part

The supermajority does not guarantee a clean reset. Many officials appointed by Orbán hold extended mandates across key institutions, and Magyar has no direct mechanism to remove them. He has asked them to resign voluntarily. The EU has set an August deadline for the reforms needed to unfreeze the frozen cohesion funds on which Hungary's struggling economy depends.

Abel Bojar, research director at the polling platform Europion, told NPR that Magyar's win was "truly unprecedented" given the funding and media asymmetries his campaign faced, but cautioned that the new prime minister could yet misuse his mandate. "I'm not in a position right now to give you a yes or no answer, but it's certainly a political risk that he will abuse this opportunity," Bojar said.

Magyar has asked the president to summon parliament on May 5 to seat the new government. The EU's August reform deadline follows three months later.