CHURCHES in Hungary have reacted cautiously to the landslide victory of Peter Magyar’s Tisza Party in last week’s general election (News, 10 April, Comment 20 March).

Tisza won 53 per cent of the votes on a record 79-per-cent turnout, giving the party 141 seats in the 199-seat National Assembly.

“Our Church strives for predictable and fair relationships, and performs its religious, educational and diaconal service for the common good,” a spokesperson for the Evangelical Lutheran Church told the online ecumenical website Szemlélek. “This will continue in future, as we look forward with joy and anticipation to consultations and cooperation with the new government.”

The Roman Catholic Bishops’ Conference said in a statement that it had congratulated Mr Magyar on his victory, and would also “strive for constructive and partnership-based co-operation”.

The editor of the RC monthly magazine Vigilia, Tibor Görföl, said, however, that Churches had avoided speaking about contentious topics during the campaign, for fear of “offending” Viktor Orbán’s longstanding government. Mr Görföl also said that Churches had alienated many citizens, especially the elderly, by receiving government funds at a time of financial hardship.

“The Churches have claimed complete neutrality — yet, given their political entanglements, no one has taken this seriously,” Mr Görföl said.

“Their long silence on moral and social issues has gravely eroded their moral authority. Even if they started raising their voices now, it would take years before people took them seriously again”.

After 16 years in power and four successive election victories, Mr Orbán was widely criticised for defying Western sanctions by buying Russian oil and refusing aid to Ukraine. He was also criticised for claiming to defend Europe’s Christian traditions and for using extensive powers to block migration and restrict media freedom.

Mr Magyar has pledged to return Hungary, a member of NATO and the European Union, to a more pro-Western path, and to tackle corruption, restoring legality, and raising living standards.

Dr András Máté-Tóth, a religious-studies professor at Szeged University, said that the campaign had been “full of hatred and misrepresentation”; many Christians had hoped for a reset in relations between the Church and the government, and an end to the acerbic style of Hungarian politics, he said.