Incoming Prime Minister Peter Magyar says his government could be formed by mid-May. Published On 15 Apr 202615 Apr 2026Hungary’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 Sunday’s election, ending right-wing Prime Minister Viktor Orban’s 16 years in power.Recommended Stories list of 4 itemsend of listMagyar announced on Wednesday in interviews with state media outlets that one of his first acts in government will be to suspend public media news broadcasts.Making a rare appearance on state television, his first in a year and a half, he clashed with anchors he accused of years of biased coverage, later describing the interview on X as witnessing “the last days of a propaganda machine”.In a Facebook post, Magyar said employees of public broadcaster MTVA had “worked under total intimidation and political terror”, and alleged that shortly after his interview.“Every Hungarian deserves a public service media that broadcasts the truth,” Magyar said on Kossuth state radio.“We will need a little time to pass a new media law, a new media authority and setting up the professional conditions for state media to actually do what it is meant to do.”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.Magyar faces a pressing economic challenge alongside his political one. More than 16 billion euros ($19bn) in European Union COVID-19 pandemic recovery funding r …
