After 16 years in power, Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orbán has conceded defeat after a devastating election loss yesterday. Péter Magyar and the Tisza party won 138 out of 199 parliamentary seats, the two-thirds majority needed to alter Hungary’s Constitution.

• Many Hungarians and outside observers hope Magyar will use his power to undo many of Orbán’s constitutional reforms that allowed him to consolidate power.
• However, Magyar is a former insider from Orbán’s Fidesz party and shares much of the same platform.

Will Magyar be any different from Orbán’s autocracy?

• Magyar was married to Judit Varga, Orbán’s former justice minister; he divorced her in 2023 and left Fidesz the following year.
• Most of Orbán’s challengers have come from the left. Yet Magyar supports many of Orbán’s conservative policies, like closing Hungary to Muslim refugees, as well as Orbán’s Christian world view.

Perhaps the one notable difference, from this man who represented Hungary’s EU office in Brussels, is his more pro-Europe orientation.

• Orbán has been extremely antagonistic toward European integration and vehemently opposed to an EU superstate. As a result, the EU has withheld billions of euros in investment. Magyar supports closer EU integration.

“A country reclaims its European path. The union grows stronger. Hungary has chosen Europe. Europe has always chosen Hungary. Together, we are stronger.”
—Ursula von der Leyen, European Commission president

The Bible speaks of a modern-day incarnation of the Roman Empire to rise from 10 European “kings,” or dictators, pooling their resources (Revelation 17; our free booklet Who or What Is the Prophetic Beast? elaborates).

• What Orbán was doing in Hungary matched this prophesied trend. Trumpet editor in chief Gerald Flurry stated in a 2020 article: “It is almost certain that Hungary will be part of the coming 10-nation European superpower.”

Yet Orbán himself had one major strike against him. Revelation 17:13 shows the 10 leaders of Europe will have “one mind,” giving “their power and strength” to form a collective superstate. Orbán is not a team player. But Magyar claims he wants to work with Europe. He could very well be Hungary’s coming “king.”