No, there is no intention to fire everyone.
So how will you do it?
It’s easy. Who were the political nominees? And who did any unjust, illegal things?
We have to scrutinize, we have to pay attention, we have to have a close look. It will not happen in one day. But we don’t want to fire anybody who was part [of the regime] as a civil servant, or a doctor, or a policeman. These are good guys. Our task is to rebuild and to strengthen the rule of law, the checks and balances. And to change, of course, the puppets of Orbán: the President of the country, the president of the prosecutor’s office, the constitutional court, the media authority. But not the average, normal citizen workers. That’s not our intention at all.
Last night, at the première, you said, “The dance is just beginning”—meaning, basically, that you’ve just pulled off this very difficult upset election victory, and now comes the even harder part, which is actually governing, holding your coalition together, delivering on your promises. You have supporters on the left, supporters on the right, supporters in the middle. And there will inevitably be some conflict, and some disappointment, among your supporters. How will you manage that?
You’re right—now there is a honeymoon feeling in the country, and the honeymoon could go away very, very quickly.
I think you’ll get longer than most people get.
Yes, but it’s our responsibility and task to get it longer, and to explain to the people the real situation, the exact situation of the country, of the economy, of the health-care system, the education system. It’s our huge responsibility to bring back the E.U. funds, to strengthen the checks and balances, to rebuild, to reunite the country, and to be very honest that we won’t be perfect—we are just human beings—and if we make any mistakes, to be honest and admit it, [and accept] the consequences. That will also be a huge difference from the Orbán regime, when there was no responsibility or consequences of any crime, any political mistake.
I think if you treat the people like adults, it’s not easy, but everything can be explained. And the more difficult decisions, the more sensitive decisions—we’ll see how long this honeymoon feeling will last, and, of course, I’m prepared for the change, for the [approval] numbers lowering. It’s quite normal. But, if you are honest, you will survive the more difficult times as well, I’m sure.
We will start with modifying the constitution, and we’ll write in the constitution that anybody can be a Prime Minister in Hungary only for two terms—maximum eight years. It will be a sign that we don’t want to do the same—to build a power machine—but just to govern, just to serve the country as long as possible. But maximum eight years.
So you can guarantee that you will be there only eight years?
Yeah, absolutely. Or four, we’ll see. But in the constitution it will be written that eight years is the maximum.
What are some other things that will be in the constitution that will check your power, limit your power? And is that new constitution being written right now?
[At this point, Sümeghy jumped in. “To avoid the point of the constitution at this table,” she began, steering the conversation toward a more general topic. Under Orbán, she said, Hungarians had “experienced lack of trust in our institutions—we were infantilized.” But Magyar, she felt, was starting to change this mentality, by treating his supporters as grownups.]
Well, if I can just treat all of us like grownups: I’m not trying to sneak in news-related questions, but I really think that it’s important to discuss what happens next. Everyone in the world is curious. The whole film, the whole campaign, was based on the premise that there were these key inflection-point years in Hungarian history: 1956, 1989, 2010, and now 2026. And so this moment you’re about to embark on—what you have repeatedly called a peaceful regime change—it raises some big and maybe difficult questions. Because this message—that we have won this big mandate for change, and we will rewrite the constitution—that was also Orbán’s message, after 2010, and now of course we look back on that as a disaster.
So the big question in my mind is: how do we know that this is not a moment like that, where the voters are handing you power and you will use it to lock in your own power? How can people really be sure that there won’t be an abuse of power, a betrayal?
[Smiling.] I really respect your try to reformulate the question. And I really understand that you would like to know the details. But the difference between us and the Orbán regime, one of the differences, is that it’s not Péter Magyar who will make decisions alone. So you are asking a question which will be decided by the Hungarian parliament, discussed with the Hungarian society—the professionals, the lawyers, and the political groups in the Hungarian parliament. So there is nothing to be decided at this time. So I’m not able to answer your question.
[To be a responsible leader] I think, everything starts in your mind, in your brain. It’s you who should control yourself. It’s not up to the constitutions, to be honest.
You mentioned that everything went wrong [after 2010] because of the constitution. No, it’s an average constitution. It’s because of the power, because of the Prime Minister, because of the mafia. It’s not because of the laws. I’m a lawyer—I’m ready to modify the constitution or the electoral law. But it’s up to the people, up to the political persons in power. You have to control yourself in your mind first. And to build a community that will control you as a Prime Minister, as a [leader] of the Party.
