Hungarian opposition leader Peter Magyar won the election, ending the 16-year era of Viktor Orban . The outgoing prime minister congratulated his challenger when, halfway through the count, the victory of Tisza, Magyar's pro-European party, was clear.
The Hungarian opposition leader is moving toward a two-thirds majority. With 45.71% of the vote counted, the Tisza di Magyar party, including single-member constituencies, has 135 seats, exceeding the majority threshold of 133. Orban's Fidesz party has 57 seats. The far-right Mi Hazank (Our Homeland) party has seven seats . In percentage terms, the Tisza di Magyar party stands at 51.98%, while Orban's Fidesz is at 39.38%.
"Thank you, Hungary, we've made history," commented Magyar , who, buoyed by the polls, immediately after polls closed, declared that "the regime is living its final hours." Magyar, a conservative and moderate, counts Orban as his political mentor, with whom he fell out following a sexual abuse scandal in a state-run orphanage for which the prime minister, Magyar believed, had failed to take responsibility and had even pardoned an official convicted of covering up the abuse. Then, a little over two years later, Magyar promised: "Change can only come from within, given the opposition's ineptitude." That video, which went viral, earned him a lot of support and was a sort of self-candidate.
"A clear and painful result," Orban admitted to his supporters. "Now I will serve the nation from the opposition. Our task is clear, so our job is to strengthen our communities."
Thus ends, after 16 years, the era of Orban, a key figure for sovereignists and the European far-right, a staunch ally of Vladimir Putin and Donald Trump. For this reason, too, today's vote was considered by EU chancelleries to be the most important vote of the year in Europe.
The turnout was extremely high: half an hour after polls closed, it had reached 77.8% . By 6 p.m., the 2002 record, when overall turnout was 70.5%, had already been surpassed. Polls closed at 7 p.m., concluding a day marked by unprecedented mobilization in the history of Hungarian democracy.
The reactions
Elly Schlein : "These are wonderful and moving images. The time of sovereignism and right-wing sovereignism is over. Freedom, democracy, and the desire for Europe have won. Orban lost, and with him, Trump, and Meloni and Salvini lost with their embarrassing videos supporting Orban and his autocracy. This is wonderful news coming from Hungary."
Carlo Calenda : "A great day for Europe and for those who want to keep Russia away from us! Congratulations to Magyar and the Hungarian people. Go ahead. Let's free the EU from Putin's servants (#Salvini)."
Matteo Renzi : "And after sixteen years, Orban is knocked out. After Canada and Australia, the Trump effect has also hit Hungary. But let's not underestimate Meloni's magic touch, now a reverse Midas. Our prime minister has supported the anti-Europeans in Poland, Spain, and Hungary: three times her protégés have lost. Europe wins, the MAGAs lose. What a splendid Sunday!"
The first and only Italian center-right member to comment on the situation was Maurizio Lupi, leader of Noi Moderati : "We are strongly anchored to the principles and values of European popularism and, precisely for this reason, we believe that the victory of the moderate conservative Magyar, representing the EPP, is positive and an important step towards continuing to build a stronger Europe."
Giorgia Meloni 's institutional comment was a long wait, but it finally arrived: "Congratulations to Peter Magyar on his clear electoral victory, and the Italian government wishes him success in his new role. Italy and Hungary," the Prime Minister emphasized, "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 our shared challenges at the European and international levels."
(Unioneonline)