Peter Magyar, leader of the election-winning Tisza Party, talks to the media in Budapest, Hungary, Wednesday, April 15, 2026. ROBERT HEGEDUS / AP
Hungary's new leader Péter Magyar said Wednesday, April 15, he had told President Tamas Sulyok, a supporter of defeated prime minister Viktor Orban, that he should resign following Orban's election defeat. Magyar, who routed the nationalist Orban in Sunday's election, said he had issued the call to Sulyok during a meeting to discuss convening the new parliament, expected in early May.
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Hungary enters new era following Orban's defeat
"I repeated to him that, in my eyes and in the eyes of the Hungarian people, he is unworthy of embodying the unity of the Hungarian nation, incapable of ensuring respect for the law," Magyar told journalists outside the presidential palace after the meeting. If the president refuses to step down, Magyar added, his government will introduce a law removing him and "all the puppets nominated to top posts by the Orban system." He said the posts included the chief prosecutor and the head of the constitutional court. He said the president had responded "enigmatically" to the demand.
