- Vote puts an end to conservative Orban’s 16-year rule.
- The election result is important for the EU, USA, Russia, Ukraine.
- Election officials estimate turnout at 79% or more, a record.
Hungary’s veteran nationalist leader Viktor Orban lost power to the upstart center-right Tisza party in Sunday’s national election after 16 years in office, marking a setback for his allies in Russia and US President Donald Trump’s White House.
Orban, 62, was celebrated by conservatives across Europe and the United States as the mastermind behind the “illiberal” model of democracy, but lost favor at home with voters fed up with economic stagnation, international isolation and oligarchs hoarding wealth.
His landslide defeat gave Tisza’s Peter Magyar, 45, a comfortable majority in Hungary’s 199-seat legislature, opening the door to meaningful reforms of a system that critics in the European Union said undermined democratic norms.
With nearly all ballots counted, Tisza was set to win 138 seats, more than the two-thirds majority Magyar would need to undo Orban’s constitutional overhaul and fight corruption.
A record turnout on Sunday underlined how many Hungarians saw the election as a defining moment for their country.
“We have done it. Tisza and Hungary have won this election,” Magyar told tens of thousands of supporters who danced and cheered along the elegant Danube river embankment in central Budapest.
Many held candles as loudspeakers blasted Frank Sinatra’s “My Way” as Magyar walked toward the stage. “Together we have replaced Orban’s system and together we have liberated Hungary, we have reclaimed our country,” he said.
Magyar had chosen to choose between “East and West” and warned voters that Orban and his confrontational stance towards Brussels would lead the country further away from the European mainstream. Orban responded that Tisza would drag Hungary into an unwanted war with Russia, a charge Magyar rejected.
“The election result is painful for us, but clear,” Orban said at the Fidesz campaign offices. Some of his supporters gathered outside wept as they watched his speech on television screens.
Shock waves for the EU and beyond
The end of Orban’s 16-year rule will have significant consequences not only for Hungary, but for the EU, Ukraine and beyond.
Many European leaders are hoping for an end to Hungary’s adversarial role in the EU, possibly paving the way for a 90 billion euro ($105 billion) loan to war-torn Ukraine that was blocked by Orban.
Mujtaba Rahman, a managing director at Eurasia Group, said Magyar will be able to deliver on his promises to clean up corruption and remove Fidesz loyalists from key positions.
“On Ukraine, Magyar will agree to pave the way for 90 billion euros to flow to Ukraine. He was extremely cautious before the election, but without the need now to try to appease Fidesz voters, we think Hungary will cautiously move more into the European mainstream on most issues.”
Some diplomats in Brussels warned that issues such as migration could remain thorny. “Hungary will continue to be a challenging partner, but one that the other member states can work with,” one said.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy congratulated Magyar on Sunday and pledged to work with him to strengthen Europe and maintain peace and security. “It is important when a constructive approach wins,” Zelenskiy wrote on Telegram.
A defeat for Orban could also mean the eventual release of EU funds to Hungary, suspended due to reforms that Brussels said undermined democratic standards, something closely watched by financial markets.
“Hungary has chosen Europe. Europe has always chosen Hungary,” European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen, the top EU leader, said after partial results were announced.
Orban’s exit would also deprive Russian President Vladimir Putin of his most important ally in the European Union and send shockwaves through the West’s right-wing circles, including the White House.
Orban had won public endorsements from the Trump administration, culminating in a visit to Budapest by Vice President JD Vance last week, as well as from the Kremlin and far-right leaders in Europe.
But his campaign was rocked by media reports that his government had been cooperating with Moscow on diplomatic and political issues.
Orban, who denied any wrongdoing, said his aim was to protect Hungary’s national identity and traditional Christian values in the EU and its security in a dangerous world.
“It’s incredibly exciting,” said 24-year-old Dorina Nyul, who attended the Tisza election night event. “It feels like this is our first and last chance for a really long time to actually change the system. And it is, I can’t even describe the feeling.”
