When Peter Magyar was a child, he pasted a picture of Viktor Orban, then an ardent anti-communist, on his bedroom wall, excited by Hungary's first democratic elections in 1990.
Decades later, he ended Orban's 16-year reign as prime minister in an election that brought a record-high turnout and was expected to shock Russia and send shockwaves through right-wing circles across the West, including the White House of US President Donald Trump.
Macedonia's center-right, pro-European Union Tisza party defeated Orban's nationalist Fidesz party in Sunday's parliamentary elections. Partial results showed Tisza would win 137 seats, or a two-thirds majority, in the 199-seat parliament.
Just nine years old when communism collapsed, Magyar said he had decorated the walls of his family's home in Budapest with photos of leading political figures.
Orban, then a young lawyer, had become a hero of the pro-democracy movement in Hungary when he publicly demanded in 1989 that Soviet troops leave the country.
“There was a wave of energy around regime change that swept over me as a child,” Magyar told the Fokuszcsoport podcast last year.
Magyar, whose surname literally means "Hungarian," burst into the spotlight two years ago after his ex-wife, Orban's former justice minister Judit Varga, resigned from all political roles following an apology for a sexual abuse case that caused public uproar.
Magyar quickly distanced himself from the ruling party and accused it of corruption and spreading propaganda, saying he was disappointed with Fidesz.
Just four months after emerging from near-total obscurity with an interview on the Partizan YouTube channel, the new Macedonian party won 30% of the vote in the June 2024 European elections, coming in second behind Fidesz and crushing the rest of the opposition.
Orban's defeat has important implications not only for Hungary, but also for Europe and its populist far right.
Orban has been trying to create what he calls an “illiberal democracy” since 2010, restricting media freedoms and NGO activities, and weakening the independence of the judiciary.
He has forged good relations with Russian President Vladimir Putin and also with US President Donald Trump, but has repeatedly clashed with the EU, which suspended billions of euros in funding over concerns over Hungary's democratic standards.
In contrast, the Hungarians have pledged to rebuild Hungary’s western orientation and end its dependence on Russian energy by 2035, while striving for a “pragmatic relationship” with Moscow. He has also pledged to unfreeze frozen EU funds, which would help revive Hungary’s stalled economy.
"On the first day we must adopt anti-corruption measures and we must submit our application to join the European Prosecutor's Office," Magyar said Sunday morning after casting his vote.
But he has treaded carefully during the election campaign, keen not to scare away more conservative voters.
Unlike Orban, he does not reject in principle Ukraine's right to join the EU one day, but Tisza's program does not support quick entry for Kiev. Like Fidesz, Tisza opposes EU quotas for accepting migrants and would also keep in place a border fence built under Orban to keep out illegal immigrants.
But analysts say tensions between Budapest and the EU – further exacerbated by Orban’s veto of a 90 billion euro aid package for Kiev – could ease under the Tisza deal.
“Orban has lost faith in the current shape and direction of European integration and is pursuing a policy of vetoes and obstruction,” said Botond Feledy, a geopolitical analyst at Red Snow Consulting.
“Tisza has no objection in principle to integration and will conduct its struggles on a practical level.”
Magyar took a cue from Orban's playbook in this election, running a grassroots campaign that took him into Fidesz's rural heartlands.
His rallies always featured many national flags, in an Orban-style appeal to the patriotism of Hungarian voters.
His consistent and clear messages, as well as his skillful use of social media, have all contributed to his rapid rise, said Gabor Toka, senior research fellow at the Vera and Donald Blinken Open Society Archives.
"Many people are also reassured by the story of someone who has fallen into irreversible conflict with the system and there is no way back," he said, referring to Hungary's split under Orban.
Born in 1981 to a family of lawyers, Magyar also studied law. He married Varga in 2006, and when her career took him to Brussels, Magyar joined Hungary's diplomatic corps and worked on EU legislation. After returning to Hungary, he joined a state-owned bank and later ran a student loan agency.
Magyar and Varga, who divorced in 2023, have three sons.
Magjari describes himself as religious and says he enjoys cooking and playing soccer with his friends and sons.
Asked in December how he had changed since entering politics, Magyar alluded to media reports describing him as hot-tempered, saying: "Now I count to 10."
