A Constitutional Moment in Hungary?

[marmar]

A Constitutional Moment in Hungary?
The defeat of Viktor Orbán wasn’t primarily driven by anger over the dismantling of liberal democracy. But the new government could serve as a positive example for others working to reverse democratic backsliding.

Gábor Halmai ▪ April 30, 2026


(Dissent) The Hungarian governing party, Fidesz, led by Viktor Orbán, was voted out on April 12 after sixteen years in power in an election with almost 80 percent voter turnout. The challenger Tisza Party, led by Péter Magyar, a former Fidesz insider, received a two-thirds majority in the National Assembly, which gives it the power to change the constitution or adopt a new one. The political scientist Bruce Ackerman speaks of “constitutional moments” to describe points in history where an engaged demos mobilizes for constitutional change, and popular sovereignty is expressed in the self-conscious consent of a majority of ordinary citizens. Is a constitutional moment at hand in Hungary?

András Sajó has argued that there was no such moment in Hungary after 1989, because there was no “constitutional enthusiasm” among most people, who first and foremost expected a speedy increase in living standards. The constitution-making process was a result of negotiations between the old Communist leadership and the opposition movements—but the outcome was a full-fledged liberal democratic text mostly copied mostly from Germany. This democratic transition of 1989 was crushed following a landslide 2010 electoral victory for Fidesz, whose counterrevolution was made easier by popular disappointment in the failure of that promise of material improvement. Fidesz’s illiberal 2011 constitution, called the Fundamental Law, was drafted on the iPad of one of the party’s leaders, and it was adopted without any popular consultation and exclusively with the votes of the Fidesz’s MPs. Today, there is a chance to restore liberal democracy in Hungary. Given the worldwide erosion of democracy, the stakes of this restoration go far beyond the country’s borders.

As a constitutional scholar, I would love to say that the defeat of Fidesz was exclusively caused by anger with the dismantlement of liberal democracy, but the truth is that more than half of Hungarian voters have tolerated or been nonchalant about that effort for fifteen years. Things changed when living conditions started to deteriorate, and the extreme corruption of the mafia state, enriching Orbán’s friends and family, became too striking to overlook. In addition, a new generation has grown up that wants to live with autonomy and does not tolerate the hubris of the powerful, and their voice was decisive in the outcome.

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How should we understand the victory of Péter Magyar and his party, Tisza, founded just two years ago, when Magyar left Fidesz? Magyar owes his unprecedented popularity primarily to the fact that he focused his criticism on the unsuccessful economic policies and corruption of Fidesz. In contrast, values such as democracy, rule of law, and rights have not been a priority. His party has taken right-wing stances on issues like migration, national sovereignty, and LGBTQ rights; Magyar did not voice support for the 300,000 people who protested the government’s ban of Pride in Budapest last June. On key foreign policies he has been silent, and he was close to Orbán in opposing the fast-tracking of Ukraine’s EU membership. Moreover, recently Tisza’s faction in the European Parliament, despite being member of the center-right European People’s Party (EPP), has joined the far-right Patriots for Europe, including Fidesz, in a no-confidence vote against European Commission President Ursula von der Leyden, raising concerns about the party’s political values. (Tisza is still barred from speaking for EPP). ...................(more)

https://dissentmagazine.org/online_articles/hungary-orban-magyar-constitution-tisza/