Hungary elections live: Orban fights to remain in power as polls close in key test for Europenewsline24

We can bring you some early results now, with 14.7 per cent of the votes so far counted.

Tisza is projected to win 125 seats so far, according to Reuters news agency. Reminder: the Hungarian parliament has 199 seats.

But it’s worth noting that it’s still very early doors, and the picture could change dramatically. We will need to wait a little longer for a clearer picture of how the results will play out.

Stay with us as we bring you coverage throughout the evening.

We’ve got some more reaction to the record-high turnout in Hungary’s election today, this time from Viktor Orban’s office.

The turnout is the result of a huge mobilisation effort by the ruling party, and the vote was democratic, prime minister Viktor Orban’s chief of staff told a briefing.

“We are glad that the next parliament will have this strong democratic mandate,” Gergely Gulyas said, adding that he trusted that Fidesz would have a majority.

We’ve heard from Hungarian opposition leader Peter Magyar, who says he is optimistic about the result of the election, after polls closed early on Sunday evening.

He says the high turnout – an increase to at least 77.8 per cent from 67.8 per cent in 2022 – is an indication that Hungarians considered this to be an important election.

Mr Magyar added that it indicates that more than 6 million people voted, declaring Hungarians had “made history” again.

Polls have now closed in the Hungarian election – and we’re expecting the first results to start coming in shortly.

As of 6:30pm local time, when there was still half an hour until polls closed, the voter turnout was at 77.8 per cent, the election committee has announced.

This marks a fairly large increase on the 67.8 per cent turnout in 2022.

Exactly what it means for the results, we’ll be finding out over the next few hours.

Two new polls, which were taken before the election took place and were published after polling booths closed, showed the centre-right Tisza party of Peter Magyar garnering 55-57 per cent support, ahead of Orban’s nationalist Fidesz party.

These poll in particular, carried out by Median and 21 Research Centre, have a good record in Hungarian elections and are typically well respected.

The projected results would give Tisza 135 seats in the 199-member Hungarian legislature, pollster Median said. Pollster 21 Research Centre projected that Tisza could win 132 mandates.

Some of these last-minute polls – conducted before an election but only published after voting ends – have proven accurate in Hungary in the past. There are no exit polls for Sunday’s election.

“We have seen the fresh polls and based on the turnout data and information that we received we are optimistic,” Magyar told a briefing.

We’re expecting early results to start coming in within the next few hours.

During his 16 years as prime minister, Mr Orban has launched harsh crackdowns on minority rights and media freedoms, subverted many of Hungary’s institutions, and been accused of siphoning large sums of money into the coffers of his allied business elite – an allegation he denies.

He also has heavily strained Hungary’s relationship with the EU, seeming to revel in using his veto power to stymie the 27-member bloc’s important decisions.

Most recently, he blocked a 90-billion euro EU loan to Ukraine, prompting his partners to accuse him of hijacking the critical aid.

Viktor Orban and his top challenger, Peter Magyar, arrived at separate polling stations in Budapest on Sunday at nearly the same time to cast their votes.

Speaking to reporters outside, Mr Orban, 62, said the campaign had been “a great national moment on our side” and thanked activists and supporters for their work.

“I’m here to win,” he added.

Turnout after the first 11 hours of voting was more than 74 per cent, according to the national election office, a record number in any election in Hungary’s post-Communist history. With time still left before polls closed, 140,000 more voters had cast their ballot than during the entirety of 2022 elections.

As of 3pm GMT, the election voter turnout in Hungary stands at 74.23 per cent, in a significant uptick since the 62.92 per cent seen in 2022.

In what is widely seen as Europe’s most consequential election this year, voters could unseat populist prime minister Viktor Orban, an ally of US president Donald Trump, after 16 years in power.