Nearly one month after Hungary's parliamentary elections, newly elected lawmakers gathered for the first time in the National Assembly in Budapest on Saturday. President Tamás Sulyok opened the constitutive session, during which election winner Peter Magyar was set to be sworn in as the country's new prime minister.
Magyar's conservative Tisza Party secured a commanding two-thirds supermajority in the April 12 vote, dealing a decisive defeat to Viktor Orbán's Fidesz party, which had governed Hungary for over twelve years.
Magyar was scheduled to take the oath of office in the afternoon. His Tisza Party controls 141 of the 199 seats in the Hungarian parliament, a two-thirds majority that gives him the power to enact sweeping reforms of the country's political system.
Following his inauguration, the new prime minister planned to address supporters gathered outside the parliament building.
Before Magyar's swearing-in, the new Speaker of Parliament, Ágnes Forsthoffer, took her oath of office. The tourism entrepreneur's first official act was to order the European Union flag to be raised again at the parliament building.
"This shall be the first symbolic step on the road back to Europe," Forsthoffer said, adding that the EU flag would fly over the building again "after twelve years." The blue-and-gold banner was hoisted immediately after her announcement,a powerful signal of Hungary's intent to re-engage with the European Union.
In another notable move, a member of Hungary's Roma minority is set to serve as Forsthoffer's deputy speaker. Meanwhile, lawyer Vilmos Katai-Németh is expected to be sworn in as Minister of Social Affairs, making him the first visually impaired cabinet minister in the country's history.
Hundreds of Magyar supporters gathered in front of the neo-Gothic parliament building to watch the ceremony on large screens. "I've never experienced such a friendly atmosphere," retiree Anna Horváth told the AFP news agency outside the building. She expressed hope for an end to corruption and a renewed relationship with the European Union.
Peter Magyar became Hungary's prime minister on May 10, 2025, following his Tisza Party's landslide victory in the April 12 parliamentary elections. His government has signaled a pro-European course, reversing key policies of the Orbán era.
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