13.4.2026
Hungarian voters on Sunday ousted long-serving Prime Minister Viktor Orban after 16 years in power, rejecting the authoritarian policies and global far-right movement that he embodied.
It was a stunning blow for Orban, his allies US President Donald Trump and Russian President Vladimir Putin who openly campaigned for him. Trump sent his Vice President JD Vance to Budapest to prop up Orban, but Hungarians had enough of him and instead entrusted their country to Peter Magyar.
Orban conceded defeat after what he called a “painful” election result.
“I congratulated the victorious party,” Orban told followers. “We are going to serve the Hungarian nation and our homeland from opposition.”
Magyar, a former Orban loyalist who campaigned against corruption and on everyday issues like health care and public transport, has pledged to rebuild Hungary’s relationships with the European Union and NATO – ties that frayed under Orban. European leaders quickly congratulated Magyar.
With 97.35 percent of precincts counted, Magyar’s Tisza party secured 138 seats in the 199-seat parliament on 53.6 percent of the vote, giving them the two-thirds majority in parliament required to make major changes in legislation.
In a speech to tens of thousands of jubilant supporters at a victory party along the Danube River, Magyar said his voters had rewritten Hungarian history.
“Tonight, truth prevailed over lies. 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,” he said.