Former prime minister Viktor Orbán of Hungary has released his first video address on his social media platforms since leaving office on 9 May.
In the video released on Wednesday, 13 May—the first address he did not deliver as the incumbent prime minister of Hungary since 2010—he touted the successes of his 16 years as the head of the Hungarian government.
‘Hungary’s economic growth is now the second highest in the European Union. Thanks to our work-based economy, one million more Hungarians are employed today than in 2010.
Families with one child receive a monthly tax allowance of 20,000 HUF [$66]. Families with two children receive 80,000 HUF [$265], families with three children receive 198,000 HUF [$648] in monthly tax allowance. Mothers of three or four children are exempt from personal income taxes…Young people under the age of 25 are also tax exempt…Those who do not own a home can take out mortgages with a fixed 3-per-cent rate…Everyone pays reduced utility prices for electricity, gas, and district heating up to the level of average consumption,’ Orbán enumerated what he views as his administration’s greatest achievements.
At the beginning of the video address, PM Orbán described the new government led by Péter Magyar as ‘liberal’, despite Magyar himself identifying as a conservative in public statements of his.
The post on X has garnered 9,000 likes and 600 comments since its posting. The vast majority of the comments are supportive of Orbán. On Facebook, PM Orbán shared the same video message, only without English subtitles. It has received 90,000 reactions on that platform.
PM Orbán first assumed the office of Prime Minister of Hungary in 1998, but was voted out after one term. He unsuccessfully ran for a non-consecutive term in 2006. However, he did return to office with a historic landslide victory in 2010, which granted his Fidesz–KDNP coalition a constitutional supermajority.
The second Orbán administration created the new constitutional framework of Hungary, known as the Fundamental Law, in 2011.
Fidesz–KDNP went on to win three more Hungarian parliamentary elections with supermajorities. The right-wing party also dominated municipal and European Parliamentary elections in the country in that period, even as recently as 2024.
Viktor Orbán became the prime minister with the longest consecutive reign in Hungarian history in 2024, overtaking Kálmán Tisza, who served for a little over 14 years at the end of the 19th century.
Ironically, it would be the Tisza Party that eventually ousted Orbán in the 2026 Hungarian parliamentary election. Led by Péter Magyar, who was connected to the Fidesz-aligned business and political circles, the new political force secured the most votes in the history of Hungarian elections, 3.3 million, and won more seats than Fidesz ever did in the 199-seat parliamentary system, 141.
Now, Tisza has the opportunity to create a new constitutional framework for the country without having to secure any votes from opposition parties in parliament.
In April 2026, Orbán announced that he would not take up his seat in the National Assembly. This will be the first parliamentary cycle where he does not serve as an MP since the regime change of 1989–1990 in Hungary.
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