BUDAPEST – Viktor Orbán has conceded defeat after losing national elections with a record turnout of Hungarians in an earthquake for European politics.
With voter turnout at 78%, the prime minister of Hungary — loudly backed by Donald Trump — conceded it had lost its grip on power after 16 years following a landslide setback.
“The election result is understandable and clear. For us it is painful, but unclear,” he said.
“The days ahead will be about healing the wounds. I wish everyone good health and better evenings than tonight. God bless us all – go Hungarians!”
His defeat pushes Péter Magyar and his Tisza party into power with a two-thirds supermajority, according to preliminary results, at 93% of the count, giving him 138 seats ahead of Fidesz’s 54.
“Together we replaced the Orban system, together we liberated Hungary and took back our country,” he told cheering supporters in Budapest. “Today, my friends, we have done a miracle, Hungary has written history.”
After less than two years at his helm Movement Tisza, Hungarian, 45 years old, expected to bring Hungary back into the European mainstream.
“We waited for this for twenty years. We finally joined the real Europe, as the Russian regime is over,” said Péter Kiss, a man in his 30s celebrating with other Tiza supporters on the banks of the Danube.
After fears Fidesz would not recognize the result, Tamás Sulyok, the Hungarian president, said “the 2026 elections were conducted properly”. “There is clear public confidence in the conduct of elections in our country,” he said, referring to the record turnout. “The election results will be a legitimate mandate on where the country should go.”
End of an era
Europe’s longest-serving democratically elected leader, Viktor Orbán, 62, who entered politics as an anti-communist dissident student, has been denied a fifth term at the head of a system he has described as an “illiberal democracy”.
Orbán has reshaped his nation’s political system with reforms that Magyar may find difficult to reverse, consolidating a system that has inspired populist and nationalist movements across the West — including Donald Trump.
“What this election result will mean for the nation, we don’t know yet – time will tell,” Orbán said. “We will serve our homeland and the Hungarian nation even from the opposition. The task before us is clear. The burden of governance does not rest on our shoulders; now our task is to strengthen our communities.”
The US president gave the Hungarian leader his full personal support and promised to leave America’s “economic power” behind, but the defeat shows the limits of Trump’s reach.
During his time in office, Orbán has proudly assumed the mantle of the EU’s most intransigent leader and Putin’s closest ally in Europe, mirroring Trump’s “bromance” with the authoritarian Russian president.
Russia — and allegations of a high-level Russian spy cell trying to subvert the vote — became a guilt issue in a country still scarred by Soviet occupation and with a national tradition rooted in the bloody historical memory of Hungary’s 1956 uprising.
A new beginning
Magyar, 45, rose from within Fidesz to power just two years ago after a scandal forced several high-profile resignations, including that of his ex-wife Judit Varga, who had often been tipped as Orban’s successor.
He has pledged to restore ties with the EU, unlock frozen funds and rein in Russian influence, removing obstacles to Ukraine’s loans.
Magyar has described the vote as a choice between “East or West”, echoing a young Orban’s 1989 call for elections to end Soviet rule and the removal of Russian troops from Hungary. Crowds celebrating his victory at a rally in Budapest chanted “Russians out.” “We are the successors of the freedom fighters of 1956,” said Andrew, a 60-year-old builder.
The campaign was characterized by mutual accusations, with Orbán alleging opposition collaboration with foreign intelligence, while Magyar warned of efforts to disrupt voting in key constituencies.
This article will be updated as the results come in.
(bw, cs)
