Never ignore the voters. After 16 years in power, Hungary’s corpulent Prime Minister Viktor Orban lost touch with the conservative base that supported him from the start, believing he could gerrymander his way to permanent victory. A smarter conservative, incoming Prime Minister Peter Magyar, did the opposite. He used retail politics to listen to Orban’s voters and responded to their constant refrain: “Russia go home!”
Magyar’s victory is a win for Hungary, the United States, and smart campaigning. His victory created a political earthquake in Hungary. Conservatives in America should cheer this result in one of our most important Central European allies. Magyar’s new supermajority means he can amend the Hungarian constitution and roll back Orban’s worst political excesses while keeping the conservative movement alive in Hungary.
