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The opposition Tisza party, founded only two years ago, achieved a sweeping victory at the regular parliamentary election held early this month. Actually, it won the strongest mandate seen since the fall of communism in 1990. Tisza now has a comfortable two-thirds supermajority, meaning it can am...

Governor Varga did not appear to be pushing for a stronger forint at today's press conference

HUNGARY · In Brief · 28 Apr 2026

The Monetary Council held the base rate unchanged at 6.25% today. The Council discussed only the 'hold' proposal, and the vote was unanimous. This was not at all surprising; the more interesting part of the day was Governor Varga's press conference.There will likely be different interpretations o...

No change in the MNB base rate is expected from tomorrow's monthly rate-setting meeting

HUNGARY · In Brief · 27 Apr 2026

Portfolio.hu, the economic news site that regularly surveys analyst views, is saying that analysts typically do not expect a change in the MNB's 6.25% base rate at the monetary Council's monthly meeting tomorrow. They also added that the majority of the analysts they asked think that a further fo...

Orbán resigned from parliament but wants to remain president of Fidesz

HUNGARY · In Brief · 26 Apr 2026

Outgoing PM Orbán gave back his parliamentary mandate, which he obtained as No. 1 on Fidesz's party list, yesterday. This means that for the first time since 1990, Mr. Orbán will not be present as a representative in the National Assembly. Fidesz will have the right to nominate another representa...

Oil flows again through Druzhba towards Hungary; outgoing PM Orbán revoked his effective veto on the EU's €90bn loan to Ukraine

HUNGARY · In Brief · 23 Apr 2026

President Zelenskyy personally announced the other day that Ukraine had completed fixing the now infamous pumping station on the Druzhba oil pipeline, which had been inactive since January 27, due to a missile or drone hit coming from the Russian army. This announcement was followed by technical ...

Tisza is moving forward on all fronts

HUNGARY · In Brief · 21 Apr 2026

The war-hit pumping station of the Druzhba oil pipeline, which has been inactive since January 27, miraculously recovered just a few days after the election in Hungary. There is no connection between the two events, of course. Technical tests have reportedly started today and oil may start to flo...

All votes are counted: Tisza gained further seats over the last two days

HUNGARY · In Brief · 18 Apr 2026

Vote-counting is now over. In the end, Tisza won 141 seats in parliament (70.9%), on 53.2% of the popular vote, whereas Fidesz has 52 seats (26.1%) on 38.6% of the popular vote. Mi Hazánk kept the remaining 6 seats in the National Assembly. This means that Tisza has a comfortable two-thirds major...

Eurozone entry criteria to be met by 2030

HUNGARY · In Brief · 17 Apr 2026

Tisza's candidate for finance minister, Mr. Kármán said yesterday that the new government will aim at meeting euro introduction criteria by 2030. In short term, the new government is going to review the fiscal situation, and then propose the amendment of the 2026 budget. As part of that proposal,...

Power transfer proceeding in an orderly way so far

HUNGARY · In Brief · 16 Apr 2026

President of the Republic Tamás Sulyok received the heads of the three parties elected to the new parliament separately yesterday. Following the meetings, he announced that the new parliament may be convened first in early May, and at that meeting, he will nominate Péter Magyar for prime minister...

Great changes in the first three days after the election

HUNGARY · In Brief · 15 Apr 2026

Following the noisy celebration by massive crowds, mainly from the younger generations, in the late hours of Election Day, making the streets of central Budapest look a bit like a New Year's Eve, the government media went through a spectacular change in recent days. The threat of military action ...

Do not take Tisza's constitutional majority for granted yet

HUNGARY · In Brief · 14 Apr 2026

Tisza obviously won the election with a great margin, and that you can take for granted. However, the situation is not quite the same clear regarding Tisza's supermajority or the lack of it. We have reported that the vote count is set to be completed only on Saturday this week. But we are now str...

A vote count update and Magyar's introductory speech

HUNGARY · In Brief · 13 Apr 2026

The officially communicated election result did not change significantly overnight, but the vote count rose to 98.9%. Importantly, the 170k mail votes cast by nonresidents have been counted and included, and so the most non-transparent part of the election process has been eliminated. What remain...

Landslide election victory achieved by Tisza today

HUNGARY · In Brief · 12 Apr 2026

With a record high 80% participation rate, Tisza reached a surprisingly clear-cut election victory today. About 84% of the domestic total vote having been counted, Tisza has 138 seats, against 54 for Fidesz and 7 for Mi Hazánk, in the new, three-party National Assembly. This represents a two-thir...

CPI-inflation moved a bit upwards in March, caps on fuel prices had a substantial impact

HUNGARY · In Brief · 08 Apr 2026

Even though all eyes are kept on election news in these days, this morning's KSH release of the March CPI-inflation data still appears significant, offering some insight into prospects for the rest of the year. Note: Year-on-year changes in percent; Sources: KSH and own estimates Unsurprisingly, ...

Vance visit, explosives near Turk Stream not to have any significant impact on election chances

HUNGARY · In Brief · 06 Apr 2026

President Trump not having the time in these days, it is Vice President Vance who is set to come to Budapest, to promote PM Orbán's election chances, for a two-day visit beginning tomorrow. No one knows what else could happen at his talks with the Hungarian government, but it is a widespread view...