“We have liberated Hungary”: the pro-European conservative Peter Magyar largely won the legislative elections in Hungary on Sunday against the nationalist Viktor Orban, with a two-thirds supermajority for his Tisza party (138 seats out of 199), which should give him free rein. Results welcomed by Europeans.

Published on: 04/13/2026 - 01:33 Modified on: 04/13/2026 - 07:10

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End of an era in Hungary. The pro-European conservative Peter Magyar won the legislative elections in Hungary on Sunday April 12, with a two-thirds supermajority giving him a free hand to undo the system installed by the nationalist Viktor Orban who conceded defeat after 16 years in power.

“Together, we brought down the Orban regime. We liberated Hungary, we took back our homeland,” proclaimed Peter Magyar at the end of the evening, perched on a platform installed on the banks of the Danube, with the emblematic Hungarian parliament building in the background, to the cheers of tens of thousands of people, some of whom set off fireworks.

Read alsoOrban's defeat in the legislative elections: "A slap in the face for the right and Washington"

According to an official count covering 98.15% of polling stations, Tisza won 138 seats out of 199 with 53.56% of the votes, compared to 55 seats for 37.86% of the votes for Viktor Orban's Fidesz, with a record participation of 79.50%, which especially saw an increase in mobilization in medium-sized cities and among young people, according to analysts.

Read alsoLegislative elections in Hungary: a tailor-made system to benefit the Orban camp

A little earlier, Viktor Orban had conceded his defeat, taking note of the "painful but unambiguous" results and adding that he had "congratulated the winning party".

An opening to Europe

This rout of Viktor Orban, who has established his country of 9.5 million inhabitants as a model of illiberal democracy, also deals a blow to nationalist and far-right movements across the world, for whom he had become a model. This is particularly the case of the “MAGA” camp of American President Donald Trump, who spared no effort to support him, multiplying messages and sending his vice-president JD Vance to support him this week in Budapest.

“It is a resounding defeat for authoritarianism, the echo of which goes far beyond the borders of Hungary,” analyzes the American think tank Center for American Progress. “It is also a major blow to those who saw the corrupt model of Viktor Orban as a model to follow, including Donald Trump.”

Several European leaders congratulated Peter Magyar, including French President Emmanuel Macron, German Chancellor Friedrich Merz, and Polish Prime Minister Donald Tusk, who added in Hungarian: "Russians, go home", in reference to Viktor Orban's friendships with Vladimir Putin.

Also read: Hungary: the election that scares Vladimir Putin?

The President of the European Commission, Ursula von der Leyen, was delighted that “Hungary has chosen Europe”.

If Brussels avoided expressing itself openly before the election, "most member states will be quite happy to get rid of Orban", recently affirmed a European diplomat, according to whom "patience has reached its limits" in the face of a nationalist leader who regularly wielded his right of veto to block European policies, including at the end of March a loan of 90 billion euros to Ukraine.

A country that Viktor Orban designated as an enemy during his electoral campaign, accusing Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky of wanting to drag the Hungarians into the war against the Russian invader. But faced with the stagnation of the economy and corruption that had become too blatant, the argument did not take hold, according to analysts.

Peter Magyar has promised to be a loyal member of the EU, although, like Orban, he refuses to send weapons to Ukraine.

“Today, the Hungarian people said yes to Europe,” he declared to the crowd who came to cheer him on Sunday evening, before promising to restore the checks and balances and guarantee “the democratic functioning” of the country, an “enormous” task.

Trump: asset or thorn?

A novice in politics, this former member of Fidesz before becoming its main slayer, succeeded in two years in building an opposition movement capable of overcoming Viktor Orban, despite the electoral system forged to his advantage since his return to power in 2010, and the control exercised by those close to him over more than 80% of the media.

Also read Who is Peter Magyar, who could beat Viktor Orban in the elections in Hungary?

“I am here to win,” Viktor Orban declared in the morning after his vote in Budapest, highlighting his friendships across the world “from the United States to China, via Russia and the Turkish world.”

But "in a context of increased tensions, it has become more difficult to present Trump as a guarantor of stability, he being perceived by some as a factor of uncertainty on the international scene", underlines Bulcsu Hunyadi, analyst at Political Capital.

"I'm very sad, I can't really understand what happened, but just like our Viktor Orban said, I accept the result with all my heart," said Hajnalka Gan Bozsokine, a 62-year-old teacher, wearing an orange baseball cap in the colors of Fidesz, met in the party's headquarters.

"I feel fantastic. We finally got rid of this system, and it was time," said Zoltan Sziromi, a 20-year-old student who celebrated the victory in the middle of the crowd of Peter Magyar supporters.

With AFP

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