Viktor Orban has conceded defeat after 16 years in power following a landslide victory for Peter Magyar and his Tisza party in Hungary’s parliamentary election – a result that sent shockwaves across Europe, dealt a significant blow to Donald Trump and the global far-right movement, and raised the prospect of a two-thirds constitutional majority that could allow Magyar to fundamentally undo Orban’s authoritarian legacy.
With 97.35% of precincts counted, Magyar’s centre-right party secured 138 seats in the 199-seat parliament on 53.6% of the vote, while Orban’s Fidesz took just 55 seats with 37.8%. Al Jazeera Orban described the result as “painful” and told his followers he would serve the Hungarian nation “from opposition.”
Turnout reached nearly 80% – a record in any election in Hungary’s post-Communist history. Addressing tens of thousands of jubilant supporters gathered along the Danube River in Budapest, Magyar said his voters had “rewritten history.” “Never in the history of democratic Hungary have so many people voted, and no other party has ever received such a big mandate,” he said, adding that 3.3 million people had voted for Tisza – the highest number any Hungarian party has ever received.
Who is Peter Magyar?
Magyar is a 43-year-old lawyer and former Fidesz insider – his former wife was a cabinet minister under Orban – who broke spectacularly with the regime in 2024 after publishing recordings that appeared to show a senior Fidesz official discussing the covering up of a child sexual abuse case at a state children’s home.
His emergence transformed Hungarian politics virtually overnight. He founded Tisza – meaning Respect and Freedom – and built it into a genuinely competitive force within two years, combining an anti-corruption platform with a more centrist, pro-European agenda that appealed to voters exhausted by 16 years of Fidesz rule.
His campaign focused on fighting corruption, restoring the independence of the judiciary and other institutions, Hungary’s stagnating economy and its struggling healthcare system. Orban had tried to win votes by stoking fear that Hungary could be dragged into the Ukraine war – the same divisive playbook he had used for 16 years. On Sunday, for the first time, it did not work.
The constitutional majority
The scale of Magyar’s victory may turn out to be as significant as the victory itself. The results projected Tisza winning a two-thirds majority in parliament – a constitutional supermajority that would allow the party to amend Hungary’s constitution.
This matters because Orban himself used a two-thirds majority to make sweeping and increasingly authoritarian changes to Hungarian law over his 16 years in power – rewriting the constitution, packing the courts with loyalists, placing state media under government control, restricting the independence of universities, and fundamentally reshaping Hungary’s democratic institutions.
With a two-thirds majority, Magyar and Tisza would have the power to reverse those changes – undoing the constitutional architecture of Hungarian illiberalism from within. Without it, loyalists of the previous regime remaining in the judiciary and other institutions could create significant obstacles to reform.
Trump and Vance back the loser
The result represented a third consecutive embarrassment for Trump’s global political brand – following similar defeats for Trump-aligned figures in Canada and Australia in recent months.
US Vice President JD Vance had visited Hungary earlier in the week to rally with Orban, attacking alleged interference in Hungary from Brussels “bureaucrats.” Trump had promised to bring US “economic might” to Hungary if Orban’s party secured victory.
Those endorsements appear to have backfired. In an era when Trump is conducting an unpopular war in Iran, threatening the Vatican, comparing Britain’s PM to Neville Chamberlain and driving energy prices up across Europe, association with the US president may have proved more of a liability than an asset.
Ed Davey, leader of the Liberal Democrats, was in a buoyant mood. He declared: “Donald Trump, Vladimir Putin, Nigel Farage – your boy took a hell of a beating. Congratulations to the people of Hungary for showing that populist extremists can be defeated – even despite Donald Trump’s best efforts.”
He reserved particular mockery for Vance: “Also, has anyone noticed that wherever JD Vance goes, he just makes a mess? In Munich he insulted European allies. In Greenland he turned everyone against Trump. And now he’s helped Viktor Orban lose re-election. Maybe better to spend more time on the couch.” The couch reference – understood by those familiar with a particular online rumour about the Vice President – raised eyebrows across social media.
Reactions from world leaders
The response from European leaders was one of open celebration. Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez said: “Today, Europe wins, and European values win. Congratulations to all Hungarian citizens for historic elections. Looking forward to working together with Peter Magyar, in order to secure a better future for all Europeans.”
Volodymyr Zelensky, who had long clashed with Orban over his pro-Russian stance and his repeated blocking of EU aid to Ukraine, was also quick to welcome the result: “Ukraine is ready to advance our cooperation with Hungary. Europe and every European nation must get stronger, and millions of Europeans seek cooperation and stability.”
Keir Starmer described it as “a historic moment, not only for Hungary, but for European democracy.”
There was no immediate comment from Donald Trump.
What Orban’s defeat means for Europe
The implications of Orban’s defeat extend far beyond Hungary. For the European Union, his removal from power removes the most persistent and damaging internal opponent the bloc has faced in its history.
Orban had repeatedly frustrated EU efforts to support Ukraine in its war against Russia, while cultivating close ties to Putin and refusing to end Hungary’s dependence on Russian fossil fuel imports. Recent revelations showed a top member of his government had frequently shared the contents of EU discussions with Moscow, raising accusations that Hungary was acting on Russia’s behalf within the bloc.
Orban’s defeat will likely spell an end to Hungary’s adversarial role inside the EU, possibly opening the way for a 90 billion euro loan to war-battered Ukraine that had been blocked by Orban.
For the broader international right, Sunday’s result is a significant warning. The “illiberal democracy” model that Orban pioneered and that Trump, Vance, Farage and others have celebrated as a template for the future has now been comprehensively rejected by the Hungarian voters who experienced it most directly.
One voter in Budapest captured the mood simply: “This election was about a clash of civilisations. Either you belong in a Western-type democracy or an Eastern-type dictatorship.”
Hungary voted for the former. The crowds celebrating along the Danube were singing We Are the Champions – and chanting “Russian, go home.”
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