Hungary: Ex-PM Orban pledges resistance to Magyar 'tyranny'

Hungary: Ex-PM Orban pledges resistance to Magyar 'tyranny' July 22, 2026Hungary's former Prime Minsiter Viktor Orban accused prosecutors and the new government of sham investigations into his Fidesz party on Wednesday, a day after investigators seized equipment from the party HQ in Budapest as part of a corruption probe. Hungary's longstanding leader, Orban lost April's general elections in a landslide to conservative rival Peter Magyar, himself a former Fidesz member, in a result hailed by much of Europe but not by the Trump White House. Since coming to power, Magyar has moved to dismantle what he alleges to be systemic corruption of the Orban and Fidesz era, making a host of sweeping changes. Orban, however, on Wednesday, called these measures signs of "tyranny" and said that he and his opposition party would offer "resistance" by all peaceful means. What did Orban say? Orban's online statement late on Tuesday night, followed by his press conference outside the Fidesz HQ on Wednesday, constituted two of his strongest political statements since returning to a role as leader of the opposition in early May after 16 years in power. On Facebook, he first issued what he called a "statement of resistance" soon after his party announced that prosecutors had searched the party's HQ and seized computer servers and other materials. This is part of a corruption probe into the country's National Culture Fund, which is alleged to have been a state-run payment center for Orban's inner circle and a shadow election campaign fund. "The National Culture Fund issue was just a pretext for this [search of the party headquarters]," Orban alleged, denying that there had been any wrongdoing. He said Hungary had "ceased to be a democratic state" after the new center-right government used its parliamentary supermajority to pass a constitutional amendment ending the mandates of the president and the head of the Constitutional Court — both deemed to be Orban allies. He said he and his party would "employ all peaceful means" to oppose an "illegitimate" political system. On Wednesday, outside Fidesz's base of operations, Orban said he believed Magyar was trying to hobble his party once and for all. "By yesterday, I had come to realize what this was all about," he told reporters. "What happened was that this served as a pretext to seize Fidesz's servers ... This is a politically motivated legal proceeding designed to render Fidesz — which has clearly survived even this heavy political defeat and is growing stronger — legally unviable." How and when did Magyar win power? Peter Magyar's new party, Tisza, comfortably won general elections on April 12, claiming more than 55% of the vote against Fidesz's tally of almost 37%. Because of Hungary's first-past-the-post electoral system, Magyar now enjoys the same supermajority that Orban often did in his pomp, holding 141 of 199 seats despite having only won 55% of the votes. Fidesz holds just 52 seats. In Hungary, a two-thirds vote in parliament is needed to amend the constitution. The new prime minister, who had broken away from Fidesz in 2024, lamenting double standards and institutional corruption, took office on May 9. He had pledged rapid reforms if victorious, but the speed and scope of his actions even took some of his supporters by surprise. What has Magyar done since taking office to Orban and Fidesz's detriment? As well as taking steps in foreign policy like trying to mend ties with Brussels and free up assistance for Ukraine since taking office, Magyar has moved quickly against alleged Orban-era corruption and misdeeds. Magyar often refers to this as targeting Orban's "mafia." Magyar opened up former government facilities to the public to showcase some of the opulence he says indicates systemic corruption. The national public broadcaster M1, which Tisza and others in opposition said had morphed into Fidesz's mouthpiece, was briefly taken off air this month and broadcast a black full-screen apology to launch a reform process. Several political appointees have been removed from their roles — most notably President Tamas Sulyok via a constitutional amendment and Constitutional Court president Peter Polt. Magyar this week suggested chess star Judith Polgar for the largely ceremonial role as president, only for her to indicate that she was flattered but not interested. On Tuesday, Prosecutor General Gabor Balint Nagy, appointed only last year, agreed to step down after being called Orban's "puppet" by Magyar. Tisza has also introduced term limits of 12 years for all lawmakers, including the prime minister and government ministers. Orban says this means most of the veterans in his party, himself included, will be excluded from the next elections. He told reporters in Budapest on Wednesday that this harkened back to the late 1980s and the latter days of Communist dictatorship "when there was no democracy in Hungary, there was no rule of law." Corruption investigations, including but not limited to the investigation into the National Culture Fund, have also struck Orban and his allies. Some other senior Fidesz members have voluntarily stepped out of the political limelight. Last week, parliamentary caucus leader Gergely Gulyas stepped down, while Orban's longstanding former Foreign Minister Peter Szijjarto left to take up an executive position with Chinese electric carmaker BYD. Surveys suggest that Orban's party has suffered even more in its first few months in opposition, with one poll by Median this week showing 60% support for Tisza and only 18% for Fidesz. Edited by: Sean Sinico Don't let the algorithm hide the news. If you rely on our team for trusted reporting, please take a moment to select us as your Preferred Source on Google, so you'll always see our verified news first.