Special to WorldTribune.com
By John Gizzi,
April 13, 2026
Hours after Hungary's longtime Prime Minister Viktor Orban conceded defeat to opposition leader Peter Magyar in elections Sunday night, American observers were wondering what kind of prime minister Hungary would have — particularly after 16 years of Orban, a favorite of President Donald Trump who was often referred to as "Trump before Trump."
Magyar, an attorney and once a high-ranking member of Orban's Fidesz party, is considered a conservative who is expected to maintain the former prime minister's fiscally right-of-center economic policy and his warm relations with the Trump administration.
"Peter is pro-U.S. and pro-Europe and, in the U.S., he would be a Republican," a former Hungarian diplomat told Newsmax. "He wants a good relationship with the Trump Administration."
[caption id="attachment_154820" align="alignleft" width="482"]
Peter Magyar, left, and Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban. 'Peter is pro-U.S. and pro-Europe and, in the U.S., he would be a Republican. ... He wants a good relationship with the Trump Administration.' / RFE/RL[/caption]
To some Hungary watchers, that may be surprising. President Donald Trump made clear his support for Orban, and Vice President JD Vance traveled to Budapest to deliver a full-throated endorsement of the embattled prime minister.
While voicing disagreement with Vance's appearance in Hungary to endorse Orban, Magyar avoided harsh criticism of the vice president and refrained from criticizing Trump for his public embrace of his opponent.
In forming his new Tisza party, Magyar campaigned on a platform of conservative economics and ran to the right of the prime minister on immigration. Where Orban oversaw construction of a fence to keep out immigrants from Hungary in 2015, Magyar said too many migrants were being allowed in legally and vowed to slash legal immigration in part by limiting foreign work visas.
In terms of foreign policy, Magyar took different positions on Russia and Ukraine than Orban. He also made clear he would not be close to Georgian Dream, the ruling party in Georgia controlled by billionaire Bidzina Ivanishvili.
"He will be cautious on Ukraine and not fast-track support for European Union membership for Ukraine, but he will not be a spoiler for Ukraine joining the EU or NATO," Andras Simonyi, who served as Orban's ambassador to the U.S., said, adding that Magyar "is fiercely anti-Russian and will be pushing Russians out of Hungary, which he sees as a danger not only to Hungary but to the West — including the U.S."
Orban's relationship with Vladimir Putin was a key point of criticism by Magyar. On the shores of the Danube across from the Parliament building in Budapest, tens of thousands of Hungarians chanted "Ruszkik Haza!"—"Russians Go Home!," the slogan of the anti-Communist Hungarian freedom fighters in 1956.
With roughly 80% of eligible voters turning out, Tisza won 138 of 199 seats in parliament, while Fidesz won 55.
"Peter Magyar's candidacy fundamentally altered the political calculus, "Swiss political scientist Louis Perron, author of the much-praised "Beat the Incumbent," said. "Unlike previous opposition figures, he emerged from within the broader orbit of the ruling system.
"He could critique the government not as a distant ideological opponent, but as someone who understood and exposed its inner workings. It also opened a pathway to voters who had previously supported Orban but had simply grown disillusioned."
Veteran journalist John Gizzi is Chief Political Correspondent at Newsmax.
