Do we like them?

Do we like Péter Magyar?

Our score: 5 out of 10. He ended Orbán's 16 years and turned Hungary back toward the EU, but we found thin, cautious detail on LGBTQ+ rights and too little else to say more.

Péter Magyar is the leader of the Tisza party, and in April 2026 he led it to a landslide over Viktor Orbán's Fidesz. Tisza took 141 of 199 seats, an outright majority. He was confirmed as prime minister on 9 May with 140 votes in favour and 54 against.

His first words in office set the tone. He said “I will not rule over Hungary, I will serve my homeland.” He also said there can be no new beginning without reconciliation and justice, and asked officials of the old system to resign by 31 May. Tisza's first Speaker had the EU flag put back on the parliament building.

Now the harm check, and it's the part where we have to be honest about the gaps. PinkNews reports that Magyar said, after the Pride ban, that the government passed it to distract from Hungarians' hardships. He also said a Tisza government would protect the right of assembly. That's a good line, but it's not the same as promising to repeal anything.

The criticism is about silence. PinkNews says he was criticised for not speaking openly about LGBTQ+ rights, and that his campaign did not include major changes to Orbán's conservative LGBTQ+ policies. An activist quoted there said the main opposition was “unwilling to communicate on LGBTQ rights”. We found no hateful words from him in what we read, but we also didn't find a clear promise. We couldn't read anything on what his government has done since.

The internet has been busy making things up about him, which isn't his fault. A Euronews fact-check found that viral posts claiming all non-EU migrants would lose their work permits were inaccurate. His policy, announced on 31 December 2025, covers only new non-EU guest workers from 1 June 2026. A clip that had him wanting Orbán to run the European Commission was a hypothetical from a 2024 interview.

On the good side, he wants Hungary to move away from close ties with Russia and back toward the EU and Ukraine, according to PinkNews. That matters a lot to the people who spent 16 years under a government that was hostile to the EU. Our research tools were limited, so we couldn't check his charity work, court record or his record on the climate. Treat this as a first impression, not a final word.