In one of Europe’s most consequential elections of the year, Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orbán has conceded to the party led by Péter Magyar, ending his run as Hungary’s leader after more than 16 years.
With 60 percent of the votes counted, Magyar’s Tisza Party had more than 52 percent of the vote compared with Orbán’s 38 percent for his governing Fidesz party, according to The Associated Press, despite a last-minute push from Vice President Vance during a rally for Orbán last week.
The vote distribution will change as more votes are counted.
“Prime Minister Viktor Orbán has just called to congratulate us on our victory,” Magyar said in a post on the social platform X.
Orbán, a far-right politician and ally of President Trump, sought to hold on to power in the face of a challenge from center-right Tisza Party leader Magyar, once himself a member of Orbán’s governing Fidesz party.
Vice President Vance held a rally in Budapest last week, praising Orbán as a defender of “Western civilization” and his strong stances against immigration, as well as his adversarial approach to European Union membership, in an effort to bolster his reelection bid.
Especially following Vance’s rally, the result comes as a blow to Trump, who has long defended Orbán’s populist politics and conservative policies.
“My Administration stands ready to use the full Economic Might of the United States to strengthen Hungary’s Economy, as we have done for our Great Allies in the past, if Prime Minister Viktor Orbán and the Hungarian People ever need it,” Trump wrote on Truth Social on Friday. “We are excited to invest in the future Prosperity that will be generated by Orbán’s continued Leadership!”
Earlier Sunday, the count showed the Tisza Party ahead in 95 of Hungary’s 106 constituencies, The Associated Press reported.
Magyar said earlier in the day that he and the party were “cautiously confident,” according to reporting from The Associated Press. And around 6:30 p.m. local time, turnout had crested to 77 percent, according to the National Election Office and AP reporting, a number higher than any postcommunist election Hungary has held.
“I’m asking our supporters and all Hungarians: Let’s stay peaceful, cheerful, and if the results confirm our expectations, let’s throw a big, Hungarian carnival,” Magyar said before final results came in.
Magyar broke with Orbán in 2024.
The election was seen by some as a referendum on what Magyar called “a choice between East or West.”
Orbán has repeatedly frustrated European Union efforts to support Ukraine in its war against Russia, while cultivating close ties to Russian President Vladimir Putin and refusing to end Hungary’s dependence on Russian fossil fuel imports. Orbán has repeatedly frustrated these efforts, most recently blocking a $104 billion loan to Ukraine, which prompted other member countries to accuse him of hijacking the critical aid.
“We are going to serve the Hungarian nation and our homeland from opposition as well,” Orbán said following his concession to Magyar, according to The Associated Press.
President of the European Union Commission Ursula von der Leyen was quick to post on X following Orbán’s defeat.
“Hungary has chosen Europe. Europe has always chosen Hungary. A country reclaims its European path. The Union grows stronger,” von der Leyen, who had a sometimes-strained relationship with Orbán, said Sunday.
