Viktor Orban was at the head of Hungary for 20 years – there won’t be another day like that.Image: keystone
After a constitutional change passed by the Hungarian parliament, right-wing populist Viktor Orban, who was voted out of power in April, can never become prime minister again.
June 16, 2026, 12:36 a.mJune 16, 2026, 12:36 a.m
135 MPs voted for the proposal from the camp around the new Prime Minister Peter Magyar, 50 voted against and 6 abstained, according to information on the parliamentary website.
According to the constitutional amendment, no one who has held it for at least eight years may hold the highest government office. Orban looks back on 20 years as Prime Minister, he ruled from 1998 to 2002 and from 2010 to 2026.
The new regulation also applies to the new head of government in Magyar. Accordingly, he can remain in office for a maximum of two full legislative periods. This means that he can be re-elected once if there are no early elections.
Peter Magayr fulfills an election promise.Image: keystone
Term limits for the prime minister are unusual for modern democracies. However, it was one of the central election promises in Magyar and his bourgeois Tisza party’s election campaign. Tisza clearly won the parliamentary election on April 12th against Orban’s Fidesz party.
Tisza has a comfortable two-thirds majority in the new parliament. During the vote on Monday, she used this for the first time to intervene in the existing constitution. Orban had this created 16 years ago and he himself had it changed frequently. (sda/dpa)