Magyar's pro-European party wins crucial majority in Hungary
Newshour
BBC
4.2 • 1.1K Ratings
🗓️ 13 April 2026
⏱️ 47 minutes
🧾️ Download transcript
Summary
Péter Magyar's centre-right pro-European Tisza party wins crucial two thirds majority in Hungary. The landslide win ends Viktor Orbán's 16 years in power and opens the door to major changes. Newshour is live in Budapest where the news is sinking in; and we get reaction from Europe and Russia.
Also in the programme: the US is set to begin a blockade of Iran's ports in an hour's time – we ask what it could achieve; President Trump denounces the Pope, who's arrived in Algeria at the start of a tour of Africa; and could microscopic fungi hold the key to future supplies of chocolate?
(Photo: Leader of the Hungarian opposition Tisza Party, Peter Magy, holds a press conference after winning two-thirds of the votes in parliamentary elections, Budapest, Hungary, 13 April, 2026. Credit: Tibor Illyes/EPA/Shutterstock)
Transcript
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| 0:00.0 | BBC Sounds, Music, Radio, podcasts. |
| 0:09.0 | Hello and welcome to NewsHour from the BBC World Service. |
| 0:13.1 | I'm Leila Nathu in London. |
| 0:14.9 | In a moment, we will have the latest on the US naval blockade of Iran's port. |
| 0:19.6 | That's due to begin shortly. |
| 0:21.3 | And has the Pope's visit to Algeria been overshadowed by a row with President Trump. |
| 0:26.3 | But we will start today's program in the Hungarian capital Budapest, |
| 0:30.2 | where Victor Orban and his Fidesz party have suffered a crushing defeat in parliamentary elections. |
| 0:35.8 | News hours, Regina Verdeanathan,en, is there for us. Regini. |
| 0:39.6 | Yes, Leila, we're at the Hung Expo Centre. On the outskirts of Budapest, it's a nondescript |
| 0:45.6 | glass-fronted business centre, not the sort of place he'd expect to see the soon-to-be Prime Minister, |
| 0:52.0 | who's been congratulated by capitals across Europe. |
| 0:55.5 | It's definitely not the place you'd expect him to deliver his first press conference to the world's media. |
| 1:01.9 | But it was in a slightly soulless conference room where the leader of Tisa Petemajar spoke to journalists standing in front of Hungarian flags, with, for good measure, an EU flag at each end. |
| 1:15.2 | Well, Mr Madja promised to usher in a new era in politics after 16 years of rule by the far-right Prime Minister, Victor Orban. |
| 1:23.5 | Hungary and the Hungarians wrote history yesterday on the 12 of April. |
| 1:34.2 | What we saw an experience in Hungary and also from across the world, it was history in making in real time. |
| 1:44.6 | Well, Mr. Madjar said he won't govern Hungary like a king, but as a captain, |
| 1:50.5 | pledging to hold referenda to make big decisions. |
| 1:53.8 | A dig, perhaps, at accusations that his predecessor misused his powers to change the constitution, |
| 1:59.9 | to give him more. |
| 2:01.9 | Well, the soon-to-be Prime Minister says he's just ready to get on with the job. |
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