2026

BUDAPEST, Hungary (AP) — Hungary’s new prime minister headed on Tuesday to Poland, a longtime ally whose recent political transformation has plenty of lessons to offer on how Péter Magyar’s government can go about reversing his country’s authoritarian drift.

Magyar, whose center-right Tisza party defeated far-right Prime Minister Viktor Orbán and his nationalist-populist Fidesz in an earthquake election last month, has vowed to dismantle the political and economic system his autocratic predecessor spent 16 years building.

That has raised hopes across Europe, and also drawn comparisons to Poland’s 2023 election when Prime Minister Donald Tusk’s center-right coalition defeated the national-conservative Law and Justice party after eight years in power.

Like Magyar, Tusk moved quickly to restore democratic institutions eroded during the previous government, including the judiciary and public media, while seeking accountability for officials accused of abuses of power.

Magyar is flying to the southern Polish city of Krakow on Tuesday, before proceeding by train to the capital of Warsaw and then on to Gdansk, on the Baltic Sea.

After taking office on May 9, Magyar called openly for many officials appointed by Orbán’s government to step down or be removed by constitutional amendment — a power available to him after Tisza won a two-thirds majority in Parliament.

Magyar has targeted Hungary’s President Tamás Sulyok, a mostly ceremonial role but with some key constitutional powers, as well as the country’s attorney general and the heads of the constitutional and supreme courts — all figures he’s decried as “Orbán’s puppets.”

Andrzej Sadecki, an analyst with the Center for Eastern Studies in Warsaw, told The Associated Press that Magyar’s biggest challenge is that “some key state institutions are still in the hands of people nominated by Fidesz.”

Still, unlike in Poland, “the situation is much easier for Magyar because he has a constitutional majority. This makes it much easier for him to introduce deep changes,” Sadecki said.

While Tusk took power through a coalition government in Poland’s 2023 election, Magyar’s Tisza won 53% of the vote, gaining more votes and seats in Parliament than any other party in Hungary’s post-Communist history.

“It’s not just a change of government, it’s a watershed moment,” Sadecki added.

Orbán’s rule was marked by a sprawling media ecosystem, which for years served as a loyal mouthpiece for his Fidesz party while discrediting, defaming and intimidating his opponents.

Fresh from election victory, Magyar slammed public broadcasters under Orbán as “a factory of lies,” and said his government would suspend their news services until “the conditions for objectivity are restored.”

The approach mirrors steps taken by Tusk’s government, which less than a month after taking power revamped evening newscasts on state television. Poland’s new government argued its ownership of public media gave it the authority to replace executives at state outlets.

But the process drew criticism even by some liberal groups, with the Helsinki Foundation for Human Rights in Warsaw saying at the time that “the manner of initiating changes in public media raises serious legal doubts.”

Still, József Péter Martin, executive director of Transparency International Hungary, said the degree to which Hungary’s public media had failed to fulfill its role means that “it should be rebuilt, and it can be done within the framework of the rule of law.”

During its years in power, Poland’s Law and Justice party tightened control over the courts by appointing loyalist judges to higher courts and punishing critics with disciplinary action.

It also installed enough sympathetic judges to the Constitutional Tribunal to delay any bills the party deemed unfavorable by referring them for constitutional review. Tusk government efforts to reverse those changes have repeatedly been blocked by two subsequent Law and Justice-sympathetic Polish presidents.

While progress was made in some areas, judicial independence has not been fully restored in Poland, and Magyar’s government could face similar challenges.

Despite Magyar’s calls for him to resign, President Tamás Sulyok — an Orbán ally whose term expires in 2029 — has indicated he does not intend to step down.

Also, the head of Hungary’s Constitutional Court, Péter Polt, widely regarded as a Fidesz loyalist, is to remain in office until 2037.

Though many Hungarian judges and prosecutors faithfully carry out their duties, judicial leadership — including the heads of the constitutional and supreme courts — should be replaced to restore trust and impartiality, said Martin of Transparency International Hungary.

And “not with (Magyar’s) Tisza loyalists, because then we would go from one problem to the other, but with someone who has full integrity and devotion to the Hungarian constitution and to the public interest, and not to the interest of the former autocratic regime,” Martin said.

Even without fully restoring judicial independence, Polish prosecutors have opened investigations and pursued cases against former Law and Justice officials they accuse of abusing their positions to benefit their political allies.

In October, Polish prosecutors announced plans to charge former Justice Minister Zbigniew Ziobro with diverting money from a Justice Ministry fund intended for victims of violence and using it for his own personal and political gain.

Prosecution of Ziobro, however, stalled when he announced in January that he had been granted asylum in Orbán’s Hungary. Since Magyar’s election win, Ziobro has said he is now in the United States, with Polish authorities seeking his return.

Many of the nearly 3.4 million Hungarians that voted for Tisza expect the new government to hold Orbán and his political and economic allies accountable.

Magyar has pledged to create the National Asset Recovery and Protection Office, an authority tasked with investigating and seeking to recover public funds allegedly misused during Orbán’s tenure.

According to Martin, restoring the rule of law and judicial independence would be “the initial and most essential step” toward ensuring past abuses will be prosecuted.

Hungary joining the European Public Prosecutor’s Office, something Magyar has promised to do, would be a step in the right direction, he added.

“If all this is done, then I think there is a good chance that the corrupt perpetrators of the former regime, under an independent judiciary, can be held accountable,” he said.

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Ciobanu reported from Warsaw, Poland.

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KISUMU, Kenya (AP) — The body of Tom Ochieng Mima is dressed in formal funeral finery, casket shaded from the hot western Kenyan sun as family and friends of the late 64-year-old settle into plastic chairs beneath white tents just off the roadside.

Wails pierce the air in a mix of lyrical song and unrestrained cries; a group of mourners wave leafy branches and beat them against the ground in a rhythm. A performance like this would not seem out of place at many funerals around the world — at first glance.

But this group of men and women never knew Mima, nor are they friends of his bereaved loved ones. They are professional mourners who are hired to openly and loudly express grief in line with local Luo cultural norms.

The role is an unlikely but relatively steady and well-paid job in Kenya’s poorer western regions, where traditional beliefs blend with widespread Christianity to create a unique patchwork of religious rites.

“It is a job anyone can do,” said Francis Oyoo, who has worked as a professional mourner for the last two years. “As long as you are in touch with your emotions and can show empathy.”

Oyoo typically receives one or two jobs as a professional mourner each month, with the pay — close to $80 — modest but enough to keep him afloat.

Professional mourners say they draw on their own experiences of grief to channel emotion at others’ funeral ceremonies.

“You think of someone you loved,” said Oyoo, who began the work after his uncle died in an accident and he felt compelled to help others with loss.

James Ajowi, another paid mourner at Mima’s funeral, is a veteran of more than 20 years in the profession. His daughter died a few years ago of a lung disease, and he said his own experience with grief deepened his commitment to the work. “It’s as if she was preparing me,” Ajowi said.

Those left behind take great comfort in the professional mourners who bolster attendance at funerals, which are already loud and busy community social affairs in western Kenya.

“They support us. They show us love,” said Lawrence Ouma Angira, who was raised by the deceased Mima, his uncle. “They help fill the emptiness and they comfort us,” he added — even if they never knew the subject of their grief. “They understand loss.”

Among the Luo people who live near Lake Victoria, mourning is not only about grief but also protection, according to Charles Owour Olunga, an anthropologist. Death is seen as a transition, with crying, singing, and movement by mourners helping drive away evil spirits.

Additional, unrelated mourners — typically women — appear at funerals in traditional cultures across Africa and Asia, Olunga said, though it is relatively unusual for men to also play a role. In addition to grieving, they may also help maintain order in large gatherings.

The professionalization of mourning is relatively recent, however, the anthropologist noted. “It is linked to urbanization and commercialization,” said Olunga. “We are moving away from the authentic, but still holding on to tradition. They add color to an existing process.”

Among scholars of religion, the particular blend of Christian beliefs with even older spiritual traditions in western Kenya is also notable.

The region has a significant number of so-called African-initiated churches, according to University of Nairobi research. They are a phenomenon linked to local pushback against strict Christianity’s prohibition of Indigenous rituals.

For the mourners, both those who knew Mima and the paid strangers, the nuances of combined Christian and traditional beliefs are less important than the emotional understanding and comfort that grief builds community.

“Death is painful,” said Oyoo. “But I also find strength in knowing that one day, I too will die — and people will gather for me.”

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Associated Press religion coverage receives support through the AP’s collaboration with The Conversation US, with funding from Lilly Endowment Inc. The AP is solely responsible for this content.

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