Hungarian opposition ousts Viktor Orbán after 16 years in power

Péter Magyar’s Tisza party wins election as prime minister concedes defeat, in result likely to reshape ties with EU

Hungary’s opposition Tisza party, led by Péter Magyar, has won the election, bringing an end to Viktor Orbán’s 16-year grip on power, in a result that is likely to rattle the White House and reshape the country’s relationship with the EU.

Less than three hours after polls closed on Sunday, Orbán conceded defeat after what he described as a “painful but unambiguous” election result.

“I congratulated the victorious party,” the rightwing populist told supporters in Budapest. “We are going to serve the Hungarian nation and our homeland from opposition as well.”

With 98.74% of the vote counted, Magyar’s Tisza party was projected to have won 138 of the 199 seats in the country’s parliament, giving them a super-majority capable of amending the constitution and key laws, suggesting they would be able to reverse some of the changes made by Orbán and Fidesz, and potentially unlock EU funds.

Fidesz won 55 seats, while the extreme-right Mi Hazánk party won six.

Magyar, who pledged to repair Hungary’s strained relationship with the EU, crack down on corruption and funnel funds towards long-neglected public services, said Tisza voters had rewritten Hungarian history.

“My fellow Hungarians, we have done it!,” he told the tens of thousands of jubilant supporters who had gathered along the banks of the Danube river to celebrate.

“Tonight, truth prevailed over lies,” said Magyar, 45. “Today, we won because Hungarians didn’t ask what their homeland could do for them – they asked what they could do for their homeland. You found the answer. And you followed through.”

The election was being closely watched around the world as a test of the resilience of the Maga movement and the global far right, many of whom have long looked to Orbán as an inspiration and sought to follow his playbook.

Days before the election, JD Vance had travelled to Budapest, with the US vice-president saying that he had come to “help” Orbán. Donald Trump had also repeatedly endorsed Orbán, most recently on Friday when he vowed to bring US “economic might” to the country if Orbán was re-elected.

US Democrat Hakeem Jeffries, the US House of Representatives minority leader, said the results of the Hungarian election did not bode well for the Trump administration. “Far-right authoritarian Viktor Orbán has lost the election,” he wrote on social media. “Trump sycophants and Maga extremists in Congress are up next in November. Winter is coming.”

In recent months, Orbán, 62, had also been endorsed by rightwing and far-right leaders ranging from France’s Marine Le Pen to Italy’s Giorgia Meloni and Israel’s Benjamin Netanyahu.

Meloni was among those who congratulated Magyar on Sunday night, promising her country’s continued cooperation and wishing him success. She added: “I thank my friend Viktor Orbán for the intense collaboration over the years, and I know that he will continue to serve his nation, also from the opposition.”

Leaders from across Europe hailed the result, with Keir Starmer describing it as a “historic moment, not only for Hungary, but for European democracy” on social media.

In recent weeks, the antagonistic relationship between Orbán’s government and the EU had plunged to new lows, after Orbán vetoed further EU sanctions on Russia, as well as an additional €90bn (£78bn) loan for Ukraine. Tensions between Budapest and Brussels had since boiled over, following allegations that Orbán’s government had shared confidential EU information with Moscow.

News of the change in government prompted an outpouring of response from across the EU. “Europe’s heart is beating stronger in Hungary tonight,” said Ursula von der Leyen, the president of the European Commission. “A country reclaims its European path. The Union grows stronger.”

Donald Tusk, Poland’s prime minister, welcomed Magyar with a jibe at Orbán. “Back together! Glorious victory, dear friends!” he posted on social media, adding in Hungarian: “Russians, go home!”

Emmanuel Macron, France’s president, said he had spoken with Magyar to congratulate him, while the German chancellor, Friedrich Merz, said he was “looking forward” to working with Magyar.

From Ukraine, Volodymyr Zelenskyy said the country was ready to advance our cooperation with Hungary, even as Magyar has said he would continue Orbán’s opposition to sending arms to the country and fast-tracking EU entry for Kyiv. “We are ready for meetings and joint constructive work for the benefit of both nations, as well as peace, security, and stability in Europe.”

As Magyar crisscrossed Hungary during the campaign, holding as many as six rallies a day, Orbán had consistently trailed in the polls, suggesting the election was poised to end his efforts to transform Hungary into a “petri dish for illiberalism”.

His rightwing populist government used its time in office to steadily whittle away at the checks and balances that constrained its power: rewriting election laws to its own benefit, manoeuvring to put loyalists in control of an estimated 80% of the country’s media, and retooling the country’s judiciary.

Ahead of the election, as the government stepped up its efforts to clamp down on dissent, local resistance swelled, bursting into public view as hundreds of thousands of people took to the streets of Budapest in June in defiance of the government’s efforts to ban Pride.

Sunday’s election saw a record turnout of nearly 80%, according to the National Election Office. The result was likely due, in part, to the massive number of youths who mobilised against Orbán. One poll suggested that as many as 65% of voters under the age of 30 – many of whom had come of age as the country plunged in press freedom rankings, was accused of being an “electoral autocracy”, and became the most corrupt country in the EU – were planning to cast their vote against Orbán.

On Sunday evening, many of them thronged the banks of the Danube, chanting “We did it!” while others chanted “It’s over!” as they made their way through the city’s metro stations.

“The dictatorship, rightwing ideology and all of that will disappear now, and we have a chance for a better country,” said Nóri, 24, as tears welled in her eyes. “I’m feeling hopeful and happy.”

The view was echoed by Anna, 24. “I really hope these next four years will be better than the past 16.”

The result was also welcomed by Ervin Nagy, one of Hungary’s most well-known film actors. “For the next four years Hungarians can expect safety, peace, freedom, and that no one will interfere in their lives,” said Nagy, who actively participated in Tisza’s campaign from early on.

Analysts were swift to warn that change would probably come slowly. During Fidesz’s 16 years in power, the party stacked the Hungarian state, media and judiciary with loyalists; how they would respond to a change in government was now up in the air.

“The path ahead for Hungary is a complicated one – Fidesz’s control of the business sector, media, public administration, and the judiciary reaches far and deep,” said Dalibor Rohac, senior fellow at the American Enterprise Institute.

“The message of this election, however, is a clear one: Orbán’s (and Trump’s) ideological project has had a test run of 16 years, and it has been a spectacular political, economic and social failure,” he said. “The defeat of ‘Orbánism’ is an opportunity to repudiate its iterations existing in other western democracies and to charter a more constructive, less polarised trajectory for pluralistic societies.”

Others pointed to all that Magyar and Tisza had been up against. In the lead up to the election, billboards generated with AI and paid for by the government became a mainstay across the country, depicting Magyar as a danger to the country and a stooge of the EU and the Ukrainian president, Volodymyr Zelenskyy.

“Tisza could win against all odds: help from the United States and from Russia, a massive state disinformation machinery, and all state institutions helping Fidesz,” said Péter Krekó, the director of the Budapest-based Political Capital thinktank.

While the super-majority would help the party, the expectations would be “huge and it will be difficult to deliver on some campaign promises due to fiscal constraints. But given that it was dominantly an anti-Fidesz vote, the new government can manage expectations.”

Botond Feledy, a Brussels-based Hungarian geopolitical analyst, said the result was likely to reset the relationship between Hungary and the EU.

“We can count on a Hungarian government that is constructive yet critical, but fundamentally pro-EU and acting as a full-fledged member of the European Union. And this also applies to Nato relations,” he said.

He described the result as a lesson to other populist leaders in the EU. “Patriots for Europe certainly need to study a lesson that adds to the list of challenges in the populist playbook,” he said. “It’s not so easy to make promises to people when the system delivers nothing, and it’s impossible to build a virtual reality that is so far removed from reality.”