Hungary's day of regime change in photos

Saturday was a historic day for Hungary: the new parliament was sworn in, Péter Magyar was elected Prime Minister, the flag of the European Union is once again displayed on the building of Parliament, and the day concluded with a collective dance of the Tisza Party MPs, a concert, and a big party on Kossuth Lajos Square.

People started gathering in the early afternoon in the square in downtown Budapest to watch the live broadcast of the swearing-in ceremony of the new Parliament together on large screens, and later, the celebration of the regime change continued in Széchenyi Square. On April 12, the Tisza Party received a mandate with a solid two-thirds majority; today, 141 of their representatives took the oath of office. The opposition will consist of the 44-member Fidesz, the 8-member KDNP (Christian Democratic People’s Party), and the 6-member Mi Hazánk (Our Homeland) factions.

The new parliament was formed amid the usual formalities, but there were some new details introduced by Tisza. The flag of the European Union was put back on the Parliament Building; at the inaugural session, in addition to the Hungarian national anthem, the EU anthem, the Székely (Szekler) anthem, and the unofficial anthem of the Hungarian Roma were also played, and some representatives even took their oaths in Lovari, Beás, and Croatian.

Ágnes Forsthoffer, who suceeded László Kövér was elected as the new Speaker of the House, with her deputies also elected; the House Committee convened, followed by a series of additional votes. The representatives voted to approve an amendment to the house rules, as well as several important pieces of legislation, including the law on ministries and the provision granting legal force to emergency regulations. The most important act was electing Péter Magyar as Prime Minister.

Magyar delivered two speeches. One in Parliament, where he spoke about uniting the nation and offered apologies to those who were wronged by the previous administration, and stressed the importance of accountability. He also called on President László Sulyok to resign—after the Head of State had expressed concern for the rule of law in his own speech. The new PM delivered his second speech on the steps of the Parliament Building to the crowd that had filled Kossuth Square to capacity.

The day ended with a huge party in Kossuth Lajos Square, where the Tisza Party’s Fred Astaire, Zsolt Hegedűs, the future Minister of Health, once again performed the dance that made him famous on April 12. Today, he was joined by representatives of the ruling party.