Roving Teen Reporter: Hungarian Hope Revived

Last month’s Hungarian elections concluded with a new Prime Minister a revived Parliament, and a new future for the people of Hungary, most prominently the youth. Péter Magyar, President of the Tisza party, won with a 53.6% popular vote majority, having emerged as a leader in 2020, exposing governmental corruption under Orbán. He campaigned on a platform of repairing trust with alliances, improving societal conditions, and the economy. For Hungarians all over the world, Magyar’s victory came with a new hope and perspective on the future for their nation.

Szonja Balász is a student at the University of Southern California and grew up in Hungary. She remarks on the joy the results brought out among Hungarian people. In past visits, she found Hungary “depressing,” with “such a negativity in the air, especially when it came to politics.” She noted that if winning this election “brought people together, it’s a sign that we can do anything as a country.”

Zalán Herman is a high school student in Hungary whose first who voting was in the recent election. He says he would like to see improvements in healthcare, stronger child protection systems, and better infrastructure, including road development. He noted that he “basically lived [his] whole life during the Orbán era,” so this election played a prominent role for him.

Dani Ambrus, a sophomore at Torrey Pines High School, said his family was “cheering for Magyar to win and hoping that Orbán would be brought down.” When thinking about his future, he says he would consider moving to Hungary in his future, and his family was “pretty excited” about the results.

Olivia Szófia, a San Marcos High School sophomore born in Hungary, began learning about Hungarian politics from her parents and social media.

“My parents left because they didn’t want to be, like, a part of this … But now that it’s a new Prime Minister, like, it’s gonna be so much better. And now it’s definitely, it’s always been in the back of our minds, like moving back.

But like now it’s like even more of an opportunity.”

Speaking on behalf of Hungarian youth raised abroad, this election truly put our lives into perspective: why we consider ourselves lucky and unlucky at the same time to not live in Hungary. Still, a new hope has emerged, making the possibility of returning to our homeland more prominent than ever.