Hungary’s Magyar Urges President To Quit And Vows To Overhaul State Media

Hungary’s Prime Minister-elect Peter Magyar has announced plans to overhaul state media and called for the country’s president to resign, as he moves to form a new government following his party’s landmark election victory.

Magyar’s Tisza (Respect and Freedom) ⁠party won a landslide victory in the 12th April (Sunday’s) election, ending right-wing Prime Minister Viktor Orban’s 16 years in power. Magyar said in a Facebook post employees of public broadcaster MTVA had “worked under total intimidation and political terror”, and alleged that shortly after his interview, emphasizing that “Every Hungarian deserves a public service media that broadcasts the truth” on Kossuth state radio.

Orban’s government oversaw the near-disappearance of independent media, with a conglomerate backed by his allies now controlling more than 400 outlets across Hungary. Magyar also met President Tamas Sulyok at the Alexander Palace in Budapest, and said in a post on social media that Sulyok was “unworthy to embody the unity of the Hungarian nation”, demanding he leave office once the new government is formed.

Analysts warn that the reform path will be complicated, with Orban loyalists entrenched across key public institutions. Magyar in fact faces a pressing economic challenge alongside his political one; More than 16 billion euros ($19bn) in European Union COVID-19 pandemic recovery funding remains blocked over rule-of-law concerns, with an end-of-August deadline to meet Brussels’ conditions or risk losing the money.