The center-right Tisza (Respect and Freedom) party won a landslide victory in Sunday’s election, ending right-wing Prime Minister Viktor Orbán’s 16-year rule that has become a model for many conservative leaders across the West.
Orbán quickly conceded defeat after Magyar won an overwhelming majority in a record turnout, a result that allows him to overturn Orbán’s contested rule of law reforms.
“An unexpected majority, an unprecedented mandate, and at the same time responsibility,” said Magyar about his final result, reports Hina.
Orban’s Fidesz party, which won 87 of the 106 single-member constituencies in the 2022 election, won just 10 on Sunday and will have 52 members in parliament.
Initial figures predicted that Tisza MPs would win 138 seats, already exceeding the two-thirds majority Magyar needed to overturn Orbán’s constitutional decisions and crack down on corruption. In the last count, Tisza won 141 places.
Magyar has vowed to launch a comprehensive anti-corruption crackdown after he takes office on May 9 or 10 as part of a broader effort to free up EU funds and revive an economy that has been near stagnation for the past three years.
Orbán has regularly denied accusations of corruption and has said that Hungary is no more corrupt than other European countries. However, he said in an interview on Thursday that widespread media reports about the wealth amassed by businessmen close to Fidesz likely played a role in his defeat. He did not comment on the accuracy of those reports.
(Vijesti.ba)
