It's OK to Celebrate Magyar - For Now
- John-Michael (Jean-Michel) Valat De Cordova
- 12 hours ago
- 3 min read
By - António Silveira
(LISON, PORTUGAL) – On the 12th of April, we saw the historic victory from the fledgling Tisza party, a party which hadn't even participated in the prior elections and now has won a resounding 68.8% of the seats. The election itself was less of an election and arguably more of a referendum on the Orbán regime that had ruled without checks and balances for 19 years.
While Péter Magyar is undoubtedly popular, he is primarily a symbol of opposition to Orbán's institutional power, rather than being in full ideological opposition. In fact if you look at Magyar's history, you'll see previous political affiliations with Fidesz as an MEP, and you'll see his current policies often being vastly similar to Fidesz, just with a more European coat of paint.
As a result of this election, Tisza now holds more than 2/3rds of the seats in the Hungarian National Assembly, and under Hungarian law this now allows them to amend the constitution itself. Péter Magyar has vowed that this will be done for good and to remove the countless abuses of power instated by Orbán, and the Hungarian people have so far trusted this.
Hungarians are now hoping that this would allow for Hungary to not only have free elections as it has right now, but actually seek fair elections in the future, the point of fairness being something that Magyar has sought to co-opt to his side since.
Magyar has shown this pursuit of fairness boldly and everywhere, choosing to go on National TV for the first time ever and accusing the publicly owned media of being akin to North Korea's, while also meeting the current Hungarian President and calling him a fraud that must be deposed in front of his face, and to further nail that point also doing so in social media.
Hungarians have been optimistic, remaining hopeful throughout this election cycle. The past week has been met with joyful celebration at the deposition of Orbán, with the streets of Budapest singing and dancing after hearing the results.
But it's important to be cautious, Magyar is undoubtedly a breath of fresh air, not just for Hungary but also for Europe. He seems to be finally ending the rule of terror caused by the many Hungarian vetos in the European Parliament while also removing the draconian hold that Fidesz held in Hungary's institutions.
But it's important to remember he's a conservative politician that despite aligning himself with the EU, still generally opposes funding the Ukrainian cause and actively seeks to have relations with the Kremlin despite general opposition from the rest of the continent.
Part of the Tisza still strongly supports the strengthening of the private sector, be it from small and medium enterprise but to larger institutions. Tisza has also shown intent for spending national healthcare funds towards the private industry, leaning towards privatization in health and the use of public health insurances in subsidizing it.
It's also a worrying thing that Péter often ignores LGBTQ issues referring to it in a "neutral" manner, which although an improvement from Orbán doesn't strike a lot of confidence.
Péter Magyar is an improvement, but he's not the end all be all for Hungary, I'd argue he's merely a stepping stone to a better and more democratic Hungary. People should not forget their duties under democracy, and specifically one's duty to make their leaders accountable for their actions.
Celebrate for now, but remember that no leader is infallible, and every person in any form of elected office needs to be watched with high scrutiny.
