New era in Hungarian politics: TISZA's rise and Fidesz's challenge

With Sunday’s elections to the European Parliament and the strong performance of the opposition TISZA party led by Peter Magyar, a new era in Hungarian politics has begun, says Hungarian political scientist Gabor Torok. “This system could be dismantled quicker than many expect,” asserts the opposition leader.

Torok wrote on social media after the announcement of partial results that the EP elections are a systemic failure for Hungarian politics post-2010. He highlighted that since 2006, Fidesz has not performed so poorly in elections, whereas the independently running opposition party has never done so well.

The ruling Fidesz-KDNP coalition garnered 44.6% of the votes on Sunday, translating to 11 seats in the next EP. The TISZA party came in second with 29.7% - 7 seats. The DK-MSZP-Dialogue alliance of three opposition parties received 8.1% of the votes - two seats, while the nationalist group Our Homeland Movement (Mi Hazank) won 6.8% and one seat.

According to the political scientist, only TISZA can be fully satisfied with the announced results, which have made Peter Magyar "the strongest player in Hungary after Fidesz."

“With these elections, a new era has begun in Hungarian politics: both Fidesz and the opposition (…) will have to face the challenge of the TISZA party until 2026 (parliamentary elections),” writes Torok.

In his opinion, the Fidesz result is not a complete failure, but certainly a disappointment. “The unprecedented growth of the TISZA party is both a sign of serious problems and their cause,” claims the political scientist.

“The government’s situation is complicated by the fact that after the elections it is likely to pursue an even more restrictive fiscal policy than before,” he adds.

This system could be dismantled quicker than many people expect, stated Peter Magyar.

Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban announced his party's victory in the EP and local elections on Sunday.