Orban concedes ‘painful’ defeat to Magyar

Polish Prime Minister Donald Tusk hailed Peter Magyar’s election win in a post on social media as a victory for Poland and Europe.

“[Hungary, Poland, Europe.] Back together!” he said. “Glorious victory, dear friends!”

Hungary and Poland have traditionally been close allies in the Visegrad group of states within the European Union, but relations had been increasingly strained between Warsaw and Budapest over outgoing Prime Minister Viktor Orban’s critical stance toward EU support for Ukraine in the face of Russia’s invasion.

Tusk ended the post on X with the phrase ruszkik haza (“Russkis go home” in Hungarian), which originated in the Hungarian uprising of 1956 that was put down by Soviet troops. The slogan has been adopted by some supporters of Magyar’s Tisza party to signal opposition to Orban’s policy on Ukraine.

Hungary’s likely new prime minister, Peter Magyar, pledged to restore a system of checks and balances after 16 years of Viktor Orban’s uninterrupted rule.

“Together, we brought down the Orban regime — together,” he told a cheering crowd of supporters in Budapest. 

“We liberated Hungary; we took back our homeland.”

Magyar said that Hungary’s independent institutions have been captured and called on the head of the top court, the chief prosecutor, the head of the media authority and the chief of the competition office to resign. He also warned that people who defrauded Hungary will be held accountable.

The 45-year-old lawyer and diplomat said his first foreign trip would be to Warsaw, followed by visits to Vienna and Brussels to unfreeze EU funding.

Magyar’s supporters chanted “Europe, Europe” during his speech.

In her congratulatory message to Peter Magyar, Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni also thanked Viktor Orban “for the intense collaboration over the years.”

“I know that he will continue to serve his nation, also from the opposition,” Meloni said of Orban, describing the veteran leader as a “friend.”

The right-wing leader acknowledged Magyar’s “clear election victory.”

“Italy and Hungary are nations linked by a deep bond of friendship, and I am certain that we will continue to collaborate constructively in the interests of our peoples and address common challenges at the European and international levels,” she said.

British Prime Minister Keir Starmer joined the ranks of European leaders congratulating Peter Magyar following the parliamentary vote in Hungary.

“This is an historic moment, ‌not only for ‌Hungary, ​but for European democracy,” Starmer said in a post on X. “I look forward ​to working with you for ⁠the ​security and ​prosperity of both ​our countries.” ‌

The leader of the center-left Democratic Coalition (DK) party, Klara Dobrev, said she would resign after her party failed to pass the 5% minimum threshold required to enter parliament.

She congratulated Peter Magyar and his conservative Tisza party on their election win and declared that this was the end of clientelism under incumbent Prime Minister Viktor Orban, a common charge levied against his government by the opposition.

The DK’s failure to get any seats paves the way for an entirely right-leaning Hungarian parliament, with Orban’s nationalist Fidesz poised to become the largest opposition party.

The only other party that is set to enter parliament is the far-right Our Homeland Movement (MHM), which is projected to net some 7 seats with around 94.66% of the vote counted.

Multiple opposition parties did not run in the 2026 election in an effort to rally government-critical voters around Tisza.

Supporters of Peter Magyar’s Tisza gathered in the Hungarian capital, Budapest, to celebrate the party’s victory over longstanding Prime Minister Viktor Orban and his Fidesz party.

The night came as a relief for Hungarians hoping for a change in government after 16 continuous years of Fidesz rule.

People were seen setting off fireworks near Margaret Boulevard in the city center, the Telex.hu independent news portal reported.

Spain’s Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez congratulated Hungarians on Peter Magyar’s victory in the “historic” parliamentary ballot on Sunday.

“Today Europe wins and European values win,” the left-leaning Spanish leader said in an online post.

He added that he looked forward to working together with Magyar “for a better future of all Europeans.”

 

 

 

“Hungary has decided,” German Chancellor Friedrich Merz said in a social media post, congatulating Peter Magyar on his victory.

“I look forward to working together for a strong, safe and, most of all, united Europe,” the chancellor added.

Germany and other European nations have clashed with Hungary’s incumbent Prime Minister Viktor Orban after Budapest repeatedly blocked aid to Ukraine and reportedly passed information from top EU circles to Moscow.

French President Emmanuel Macron congratulated opposition leader Peter Magyar following and invited him to join the push “toward a more sovereign Europe.”

“France welcomes this victory as a triumph for democratic participation, for the Hungarian people’s commitment to the values of the European Union, and for Hungary’s place in Europe,” Macron wrote in an online post.

EU Commission President  Ursula von der Leyen reacted to the results of Hungary’s election by saying that the country had “chosen Europe.”

“Together, we are stronger. A country reclaims its European path. The Union grows stronger,” Von der Leyen wrote on X. 

Hungary’s nationalist Prime Minister Viktor Orban conceded the parliamentary election to challenger Peter Magyar, saying the outcome of the Sunday vote was “painful but unambiguous.”

“I congratulated the winning party,” Orban told his supporters. “We are going to serve the Hungarian nation and our homeland from opposition as well.”

Orban first served as Hungary’s prime minister between 1998 and 2002 before suffering an election loss. He has managed to stage a comeback in 2010 and hold on to power for four additional terms. Since his return to office, Orban has cemented his status as a right-wing nationalist leader and an apparent ally of Russia’s Vladimir Putin.

US President Donald Trump also endorsed Orban ahead of the Sunday polls.

Official projections could put an eventual Magyar-led government within reach of a two-thirds supermajority, and thus ample possibilities for reform. Two different moods characterized the night in Budapest.

“We’ve seen the latest polls and the turnout, and based on the information we are getting we are optimistic,” Peter Magyar said at Tisza’s election night party. Outside the venue, several thousand supporters have gathered on the banks of the Danube. “This is going to be a celebration of democracy,” Magyar added.

A smaller crowd came together outside the venue of the Fidesz election watch party, a few kilometers further south. Inside, Gergely Gulyás, Minister of the Prime Minister’s Office, gave a press conference in which he thanked voters for the high turnout, which he accredited partly to his coalition’s mobilization efforts.

He also said: “There were a lot of reports about irregularities. As of today, I’m not seeing the type of irregularity today that would raise questions about the final result.” Gulyas said his party would facilitate a peaceful transition of power in case of an election loss, as they have done in the past.

Viktor Orban’s rival Peter Magyar said the incumbent prime minister called the opposition Tisza party to “congratulate us on our victory” in the parliamentary election.

The latest projection show Tisza could not only unseat Orban’s Fidesz, but claim a two-thirds majority in Hungary’s 199-seat parliament.

Early exit polls put veteran Prime Minister Viktor Orban behind challenger Peter Magyar following the parliamentary election on Sunday, with Orban projected to win 40% to Magyar’s 51% according to electoral officials, based on 29% of the votes counted.

Orban, the 62-year-old conservative head of Fidesz, first became prime minister in 1998 and was ousted in 2002, before staging a political return in 2010. He has been in power ever since.

Peter Magyar, a lawyer by vocation, used to be a member of Fidesz and married to Judit Varga, who served as justice minister in one of Orban’s governments. The 45-year-old Magyar is now the leader of the right-leaning, pro-EU Tisza party. If the estimates are confirmed, Tisza is set to win the majority of seats in the 199-member parliament, allowing lawmakers to vote in Magyar as the next head of government.

He is expected to break with Orban’s pro-Russia stance which has irritated Brussels amid the Ukraine war.

With vote counting underway in Hungary following a key parliamentary election, Peter Magyar said he was “cautiously optimistic” about beating Viktor Orban.

He said his stance was based on the high turnout, the pre-election surveys and other information available to his Tisza party.

Polls conducted before the Sunday ballot showed the center-right Tisza securing between 55% and 57% support. Under Hungary’s complicated electoral system, this could translate into a two-thirds majority in the 199-seat parliament.