US Democrats are celebrating the defeat of Hungarian prime minister Viktor Orban.

US president Donald Trump had backed Orban leading up to the vote, even speaking briefly last week at a campaign rally in Hungary.

“Pay attention, Donald Trump. ​Wannabe ⁠dictators wear out their welcome,” Senate Minority ‌Leader Chuck Schumer said.

“Far-right authoritarian Viktor Orban has lost the election. Trump sycophants and MAGA extremists in Congress are up next in November,” said US House of Representatives Minority ‌Leader Hakeem Jeffries.

Peter Magyar’s landslide victory in Sunday’s Hungarian election has handed his centre-right Tisza party a sweeping mandate that will give it a free hand to enact reforms, bolster the rule of law and potentially unlock billions in EU funding.

Magyar, addressing jubilant supporters chanting “Europe, Europe” after Victor Orban conceded defeat, pledged to make Hungary a strong EU and Nato ally and rebuild ties marred ‌by years of conflict.

“With the two-thirds majority allowing us to amend the constitution, we will restore the ‌system of checks and balances,” Magyar said.

“We will join the European Public Prosecutor’s Office and guarantee the democratic functioning of our country. We will never again allow anyone to hold free Hungary captive or to abandon it.”

A record number of voters have cast their ballots in Hungary’s general election.

Turnout in the election was nearly 80 per cent, according to the National Election Office.

This was the largest number of votes recorded in any election in Hungary’s post-Communist history

Péter Magyar has been elected as prime minister of Hungary following in a dramatic win against long-time leader Viktor Orbán.

US Democrat Hakeem Jeffries, who is the House of Representatives Minority Leader, has posted an ominous warning to his domestic political opponents following Orban’s electoral loss.

“Far-right authoritarian Viktor Orban has lost the election,” he writes.

“Trump sycophants and MAGA extremists in Congress are up next in November,” he adds, referring to the November mid-term elections.

In what sounds like a homage to HBO’s Game of Thrones, Jeffries adds: “Winter is coming.”

European Commission president is the first of Europe’s leaders to react to the critical election result, which is set to reshape Budapest’s relations with the EU.

It’s a post full of dramatic pauses from the European Commission president, who is rejoicing in the victory of pro-EU Peter Magyar.

“Hungary has chosen Europe,” she writes. “Europe has always chosen Hungary. A country reclaims its European path. The Union grows stronger.

“Hungary has chosen Europe. Europe has always chosen Hungary. Together we are stronger. A country returns to its European path. The Union becomes stronger.”

Elon Musk lamented Victor Orban’s defeat in a post on X.

“Soros Organization has taken over Hungary,” the billionaire wrote.

Billionaire financier and major Democratic donor ‌George Soros, a Hungarian immigrant to the US, has long been vilified by ​many conservatives.

Peter Magyar is widely seen as an “insider” turned dissident of the Fidesz party and has leant into this narrative, telling the BBC in 2024, “After a while, I became more and more critical, openly and just among friends. I can tell you that the Fidesz we see today is very, very different from the one I joined in 2002.”

“I was always told by the politicians it’s necessary to keep power – I accepted it for a time. But of course, the turning point was in 2024.”

Magyar’s “Now or never” slogan dates back to a revolutionary poet’s 19th-century rallying cry to rise for the homeland.

He has promised to tackle corruption, improve the economy, and sought to gain support from Hungary’s disadvantaged Roma community.

The Tizsa leader has also pledged to unlock billions of euros in EU funds.