Notes from a regime change part 1

In 2026, after 16 years of Viktor Orbán ruling Hungary, we finally changed our government. This is a momentous change, and I think it’s worth explaining it a bit, as someone who’s been around the whole time. The 2006 mess I came to Hungary the first time in 2006. That year, Ferenc Gyurcsány was elected prime minister, but immediately after a confidential speech from him was leaked. In the speech, he reprimanded his own people for not having done anything in their previous tenure at the government, and for having had to “lie in the morning, lie in the evening, and lie at night” to win the elections. It was supposed to be a motivational speech, “we must do better this time” kind of thing, but it backfired horribly. People took to the streets1 (coinciding with the celebration of 50 years since the hungarian revolution), the government reacted poorly, opposition rode the protests and, finally, Gyurcsány resigned. In 2010 new elections were held, and Fidesz won 263 parliamentary seats out…