Hungarian voters elected the opposition Tisza party with a landslide, ending 16 years of an illiberal Orbán regime. The constitutional majority vested on Tisza will be needed to undo the crony system, restart the economy and reinstate rule of law, but there are inherent dangers that this absolute power can corrupt the new government. Hungarians trust the character of the next prime minister, Péter Magyar, hopefully he will live up to the standards of Cincinnatus.
When Viktor Orbán won his two-thirds majority in 2010, the country celebrated. After years of socialist government entangled in corruption, people wanted change. The change was for the worse however. Piggybanking on their large electoral legitimacy Fidesz started eroding democratic values and institutions, and 4 years later Orbán openly stated he wants to build an illiberal democracy in Hungary based on Russia among other nations. He succeeded in that Hungary became the least free EU member state, one of the most corrupt and one of the poorest.
People felt so dissatisfied that despite Russian influence, despite election laws tailored to the governing party, despite a Fidesz media majority spreading blatant lies, disinformation and propaganda, dispute Orbán attempting to rule all walks of life and utilizing enormous public wealth even in that tilted playing field he was swept away with a landslide. One reason behind this is a Fidesz campaign which showed the ruling party got so detached from reality it completely failed to understand people’s everyday struggles and what matters for voters. On the other hand, the victorious Tisza party connected with voters better, offered hope and a positive vision of the future, even though through short term hardship, while Fidesz offered threats and paranoia.
The new government will have to fix a lot of issues: a struggling economy plagued by cronyism, eroded democratic values and a weak rule of law, a lack of independent institutions, the lack of adequate media freedom and a lack of trust in the state both domestically and internationally. The largest challenge Tisza faces is their own power. They need to refrain from abusing it. They need to wield it assertively to repair Hungary, but to recast it into another illiberalism under a different name.
The next prime minister needs to be a Hungarian Cincinnatus, the Roman statesman who, when appointed dictator twice, had the virtue of relinquishing power after his tenure to strengthen the Republic. Other great statesmen, who rejected the call of absolute power such as George Washington drew inspiration from him for the great benefit of their countries.
Hungarians hope Péter Magyar will join this list of statesmen. Let us trust the Hungarian dream of a new Cincinnatus will become a fruitful reality.