LONDON — “Europe! Europe!” was the chant ringing out from the banks of the Danube after an election landslide that was celebrated across the continent as a stunning defeat for those threatening its security.
Subscribe to read this story ad-free
Get unlimited access to ad-free articles and exclusive content.
Presidents, prime ministers and European Union officials hailed the end of Viktor Orbán’s 16-year rule in Hungary as a return to unity and shared values in the European Union, the 27-nation bloc that he criticized and sought to undermine.
Orbán, a close ally of Russia’s Vladimir Putin and President Donald Trump, is viewed as a trailblazer for the global hard right. He conceded defeat Sunday night in what turned out to be a sweeping victory for challenger Peter Magyar and the center-right Tisza Party, which successfully united the country’s opposition behind a vow to restore ties with Europe.
Tisza was set to win 138 seats in the 199-seat parliament, with almost all votes counted.
A succession of leaders called Magyar to offer their congratulations even before he took to the stage to address large crowds in the capital Budapest to declare victory.
Polish Prime Minister Donald Tusk wrote on X: “Hungary, Poland, Europe, Back together! Glorious victory, dear friends!” He added “Ruszkik haza,” meaning “Russians go home” in Hungarian, a reference to Orban’s backing for Putin and repeated veto on European support for Ukraine against Russia’s invasion.
In a video clip posted by Tusk, the clearly delighted Polish leader is seen speaking to Magyar by phone and says “I think I’m happier than you.”
Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez spoke for many on the continent when he posted: “Today Europe wins and European values win.”
The European Democratic Party, a pan-European centrist group that supports greater integration across the continent, called Magyar’s victory “a cry that shakes the conscience of us all” and posted a clip of crowds chanting “Europe! Europe!” at his victory rally in Budapest.
Prime Minister Keir Starmer of Britain — no longer a member of the E.U. but a close supporter of Ukraine — said: “This is an historic moment, not only for Hungary, but for European democracy.”
The Kremlin, for its part, said Monday it hoped to continue its “pragmatic” ties with Hungary. “The Hungarians have made their choice. We respect this choice,” spokesman Dmitry Peskov said.
Those celebrating the fall of Orbán should be mindful, analysts cautioned, that the huge influence he and his supporters built across the country’s institutions will not be easily removed.
“The structure of the last 16 years has been so entrenched and so much concerned with capturing all the commanding heights of the Hungarian state that it will take quite some time for anyone to unravel this,” said Jonathan Eyal, associated director of the Royal United Services Institute, a think tank in London.
Orbán, 62, is a key European ally of Trump whose populism and culture war posturing has provided a model for the MAGA movement.
In two decades at the helm of the Fidesz Party he has staked out a reputation as a committed anti-immigration Christian nationalist who spoke of defending the West against radical Islam and globalist forces.
The now former Hungarian leader has been widely criticized for dismantling or impairing many democratic institutions including the constitution, law courts and the media and packing influential committees with loyalists.
Tizsa is expected to have won at least two-thirds of the Hungarian parliament in the election, giving it a supermajority that means it can amend the Hungarian constitution. “We will restore the system of checks and balances,” Magyar told celebrating supporters on Sunday.
He has vowed to unlock billions of dollars of in funding from the E.U. that had been halted due to repeated infringements and concerns about corruption and the democratic process.
But there are a series of official bodies stuffed with Orbán loyalists who have taken power away from Hungary’s parliament to make policy, Eyal pointed out, as well as a powerful constitutional court full of his appointees.
“So sweeping away all these cobwebs is not something that could happen after a party on the Danube River,” Eyal warned.
Magyar, a relatively young leader at 45, is a former member of Orbán’s Fidesz Party and a former official in the Foreign Ministry — he only broke away to join Tisza in 2024.
Magyar is a traditionalist who support the hardline stance of the previous administration on immigration and has even signaled he may go further, by scrapping the country’s guest worker scheme for non-E.U. citizens.
“Magyar is not exactly a dissident that has emerged out of pure thin air into into the new leader,” Eyal said. “So there is, there is a legitimate question about how much of a break this is from someone who clearly shared some of the Orbán government’s views for a lot of his political career.”
Whatever happens, this result is blow to the regime in Moscow, Eyal added.
“Most Hungarian voters when they’re asked, they say we don’t want to be part of Russia, we want to be part of Europe,” he said. “And so this is a very major lesson for far right.”
About the Author
