Hungary’s Orbán ousted in landslide defeat
Voter turnout was nearly 80%, a post-Communist high in the country
What happened
Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orbán conceded defeat Sunday night after his far-right populist Fidesz party lost decisively to Péter Magyar and his center-right, pro-Europe Tisza party. Turnout was a post-Communist high of nearly 80%. As of Monday, Magyar’s alliance is on track to win 138 of the 199 seats in Parliament, exceeding the two-thirds supermajority needed to “change the constitution and unravel key pillars” of the “illiberal democracy” Orbán built over his 16 years in power, Politico said.
Who said what
“The election result is painful for us, but clear,” Orbán told supporters at Fidesz’s campaign offices. “We have liberated Hungary,” Magyar told cheering crowds gathered on the banks of the Danube in Budapest. “Hungarians said yes to Europe today, they said yes to a free Hungary.” European leaders, long frustrated by Orbán, rushed to congratulate Magyar.
Orbán was a “lodestar for MAGA culture warriors and right-wing populists in Europe,” The New York Times said. President Donald Trump and Russian President Vladimir Putin both supported Orbán’s candidacy and offered financial backing if he won. But Trump’s “several personal endorsements,” backed by a visit from Vice President JD Vance, could “do nothing to swing a contest that was shaped by growing public frustration over Hungary’s ailing economy, and the corruption and cronyism associated with Orbán,” Politico said.
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What next?
Magyar called on Fidesz loyalists in key state positions, including the president, to step down or face expulsion by his parliamentary supermajority. “We will never again be a country of no consequences,” he said, vowing to set up an “office for the restoration of national wealth” to investigate and recover looted state assets and prosecute corruption.
