How former insider Péter Magyar ousted Hungary’s Viktor Orbán

How former insider Péter Magyar ousted Hungary’s Viktor Orbán

From The Conversation Weekly by The Conversation

April 16, 2026 · 29 min

About this episode

The episode discusses how Péter Magyar, a former insider of Viktor Orbán, managed to unite Hungarians and end Orbán's regime in Hungary.

For 16 years, Viktor Orbán built an illiberal democracy in Hungary. Orbán and his Fidesz party managed to take control of many of Hungary's levers of power, from the judiciary to state-owned media, and weakened the institutions that could keep them accountable. Now, his regime has been ended by a former Fidesz insider, Péter Magyar, who managed to unite Hungarians to secure a two-third majority in the country's parliament. So how did Peter Magyar manage to beat his former boss? And what does Magyar's victory mean for the European Union, where Orbán was a belligerent, pro-Russian voice at the leaders' table. We speak to Zsolt Enyedi , professor of political science at the Central European University and an expert in Hungarian politics. This episode was produced by Mend Mariwany and Katie Flood. Gemma Ware was the host and executive producer. Mixing by Eleanor Brezzi and theme music by Neeta Sarl. Read the f ull credits for this episode and sign up here for a free daily newsletter from The Conversation. If you like the show, please consider donating to The Conversation , an independent, not-for-profit news organisation. He exposed corruption and walked across Hungary. Now Péter…

People in this episode

Host: Gemma Ware

Guests: Péter Magyar, Zsolt Enyedi

Topics covered

  • Hungary politics
  • Viktor Orbán
  • Péter Magyar
  • European Union
  • right-wing populism
  • illiberal democracy

Keywords

  • Hungary
  • Viktor Orbán
  • Péter Magyar
  • Fidesz
  • European Union
  • political science
  • right-wing populism
  • election
  • democracy

Mentioned in this episode

Organizations: Fidesz, Central European University, The Conversation

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