Meanwhile, the Tisza party led by Péter Magyar published three nominees for deputy speakers of parliament, a government model with 16 ministries, and is preparing a mass rally at Lajos Kossuth Square in front of the parliament building. HN ↗ Hungarian Conservative ↗
Everything is converging on Saturday, May 9, at 10:00, when the new National Assembly will convene in Budapest for its inaugural session. At the same time, the oath before the Holy Crown, the staffing of parliament, and the first steps of the future government are being resolved.
Saturday, May 9 — what will happen in Budapest
President Tamás Sulyok has called the inaugural session of the new National Assembly for ten o'clock in the morning on Saturday, May 9. Hungarian Conservative ↗The main directing role belongs to Tisza, which won 141 of the 199 seats in the April elections. Fidesz–KDNP will occupy 52 seats, and the far-right Mi Hazánk the remaining six. Daily News Hungary ↗
For the post of speaker of parliament, Tisza is nominating Ágnes Forsthoffer, deputy chair of the party and newly elected member for the second constituency of Veszprém County. The party announced the three names of the deputy speakers of parliament on Monday evening. Hungarian Conservative ↗
Péter Magyar is to be elected prime minister and take the oath on the same day, immediately after which hearings of ministerial candidates will begin. Orbán himself announced two weeks ago that he would not take up his parliamentary mandate and would focus on Fidesz outside parliament. Hungarian Conservative ↗
Read also: After the restoration of Druzhba, Hungary withdrew its veto. The EU provisionally unblocked 90 billion for Ukraine
"Crushing defeat" — Orbán's speech after the election loss
Viktor Orbán's Monday address to the National Assembly was one of his last before the change of government. The former prime minister admitted that Fidesz had suffered a "crushing defeat" — he compared the result to an earthquake — and in the same speech warned that the country is entering an "era of arbitrariness." Aktuality ↗Orbán also acknowledged that Fidesz "cannot renew the Hungarian right from opposition" and that the party's revival will have to come from elsewhere. Pravda ↗
The Canadian daily The Globe and Mail delivered a harsher verdict a few days earlier. In a commentary by historian Robert C. Austin of the Munk School of Global Affairs (Toronto), it states that, according to Austin, Orbán appeared "weak, servile, and hypocritical." Austin linked this mainly to the fact that Orbán positions himself against foreign influence, yet relied on the support of US Vice President JD Vance during the campaign. Globe and Mail ↗
Another small crack in Fidesz's fortifications was revealed this week by the party's own committee, the Választmány: it put on the agenda a vote on the resignation of MPs András Cser-Palkovics and Orsolya Ferencz, who refuse to step down despite the defeat. Meanwhile, the far-right Mi Hazánk proposed that MPs take the oath before the Holy Crown; Tisza stated it is open to the idea, but the competent authority has not yet given consent for the physical transport of the crown into the assembly hall. The procedural rules of the ceremony are being finalized at the last minute. Hungarian Conservative ↗
Asset transfers around Fidesz
A week before the inaugural session, a significant shift of ownership began in Orbán's circle. Communications magnate Gyula Balásy, who for years collected billion-forint contracts through NER (the "System of National Cooperation" surrounding Orbán's government), announced in an interview — during which he broke down in tears — that he would donate his companies to the state. Novinky ↗ Seznam Zprávy ↗Further context emerged behind the gesture. According to HVG, the Center for Corruption Research calculated that companies from Balásy's communications holding have won 1,352 public procurements worth 1,135 billion forints (roughly 2.9 billion euros) since 2011, while the oligarch's own wealth grew from 11 to 79 billion over six years. HVG ↗
Other figures close to Orbán have signaled the same "side-step" — some concurrently with investigations. Hungary's tax authority NAV has opened proceedings over a loss of 310 million forints in the Fidesz municipal leadership of Kömlő; the portal 444.hu writes that the suspicion concerns accounting tricks used to divert public money from domestic and EU tenders. 444.hu ↗
Tisza MP and future minister of culture Zoltán Tarr, when presenting his ministry, said a sentence that frames Tisza's takeover of power: "The era in which political loyalty was the measure of state support is over." Telex ↗
Brussels, Kyiv, Bratislava — the external framework
The Tisza government will take office with a markedly different foreign-policy profile than Orbán's. Magyar met in Brussels on April 29 with European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen — the subject was the frozen EU funds and the conditions for unblocking them. Hungarian Conservative ↗This week added a symbolic gesture: Hungary's outgoing ambassador to the EU resigned. Tisza has not yet announced the name of a successor. Magyar also announced that he will not make use of the protection of the counter-terrorism center — a unit established by Orbán's former personal bodyguard, which the opposition has criticized for years as a parallel secret service. Novinky ↗
Kyiv is waiting for the new Hungarian government to be formed. Deputy Prime Minister for European Integration Taras Kachka announced in Kyiv on Tuesday that Ukraine expects official contacts with the future Hungarian government "as soon as it is formed," and that Budapest's position on opening clusters in the negotiations on Ukraine's EU accession will then become clearer. European Pravda ↗
The change in Budapest could also be felt in Bratislava. In an interview for Aktuality, Magyar signaled that he wants to "restore Central European cooperation" — according to Aktuality, this could weaken Fico's position within the informal Orbán–Vučić–Fico group, which for four years formed a separate bloc within the EU. Aktuality ↗
For Slovakia, one more sensitive chapter remains open: Tisza has announced an audit of subsidies from the Bethlen Gábor Alap fund, which, according to a previous finding by HotInfo, has sent roughly 144 million euros to Slovak Hungarian media and organizations over the past ten years. Tisza frames the audit as a check on non-transparent redistribution of money, not as a step against Slovak Hungarians.
Read also: Budapest sent 144 million euros to Slovak Hungarians. Magyar's audit could also affect Gubík
What HotInfo is following
- Saturday, May 9, 10:00 — inaugural session in Budapest, final ceremony rules including the dispute over the oath before the Holy Crown, vote on the speaker of parliament (Forsthoffer) and deputy speakers, election and oath of Péter Magyar as prime minister, hearings of ministerial candidates.
- Lajos Kossuth Square — mass rally organized by Tisza in front of parliament: the first comprehensive test of how many people Magyar can mobilize three weeks after the elections.
- MNB case, Kecskemét — the prosecutor's office takes over the investigation of alleged irregularities surrounding the regional branch of the Hungarian national bank; we are following the first interrogations and charges.
- Tisza's program promises — where the party will get the funds for the promised negative income tax and pension increases; we expect the presentation of a budget framework in the first weeks after taking power.
- Brussels and EU funds — when the European Commission will publish the conditions for unblocking the frozen funds and what reforms it will demand from the Tisza government.
- Magyar's BGA audit — when Tisza will publish the methodology of the audit of subsidies to Slovak Hungarians (Felvidék.ma, Ma7) and what the reaction of the SZAKC and Pro Media organizations will be.
