12/04/2026 – 21:25Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orbán concedes defeat after ‘painful’ election result, ending 16 years in power
Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orbán conceded defeat after what he called a ″painful″ election result, ending 16 years in power for a powerful figure in the far-right movement allied with US President Donald Trump and Russian President Vladimir Putin.
“I congratulated the victorious party,″ Orbán told supporters in Budapest. “We are going to serve the Hungarian nation and our homeland from opposition as well.”
12/04/2026 – 21:19Magyar says Orban called to ‘congratulate us on our victory’ in Hungary polls
Peter Magyar said Viktor Orban has conceded defeat in Hungarian parliamentary elections.
“Prime Minister Viktor Orban just called to congratulate us on our victory,” Magyar posted on social media, as Magyar’s Tisza party stood at 52.49 percent and Fidesz 38.83 percent with 53.45 percent of precincts counted.
12/04/2026 – 21:18Hungary’s opposition Tisza party seen winning two-thirds majority with 45.7% of votes counted
Hungary’s opposition Tisza party is projected to win 135 mandates in the 199-seat parliament, a two-thirds majority, based on partial results with 45.7 percent of votes counted, the national election office (NVI) said.
Prime Minister Viktor Orban’s Fidesz party would get 57 mandates based on the current standing.
12/04/2026 – 20:45🎥 ‘An overwhelming feeling of hope’ for Hungary
Voter turnout by 6:30pm was over 77 percent, according to the National Election Office, a record number in any election in Hungary’s post-Communist history.
“Almost 80 percent of the country chose to vote for Hungary’s future […] there is an overwhelming feeling of hope,” Katalin Cseh, an Independent MP in the Hungarian parliament told FRANCE 24’s Europe editor Armen Georgian.
12/04/2026 – 19:40🎥 Magyar says ‘cautiously optimistic’ about election results
Hungarian opposition leader Peter Magyar expressed optimism about election results, saying that the record voter turnout “shows that Hungarians regarded this election as important”.
FRANCE 24’s special correspondent Clovis Casali has more.
12/04/2026 – 19:31🎥 Record voter turnout recorded
Polls closed in Hungary’s parliamentary election, with turnout reaching a record high in the crunch vote that sees nationalist Prime Minister Viktor Orban’s 16-year stint in power face an unprecedented challenge from conservative political newcomer Peter Magyar.
FRANCE 24’s Europe editor Armen Georgian has more:
12/04/2026 – 19:28Hungary’s high turnout at election shows strong democracy, Orban’s chief of staff says
Hungary’s record high voter 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.
12/04/2026 – 19:06Hungary’s opposition Tisza party leads, show polls done before election
Hungary’s opposition Tisza party could win the election, two surveys showed, delivering a landmark defeat to veteran Prime Minister Viktor Orban.
The polls, the last ones conducted before voting started and published after polling stations had closed, showed the upstart centre-right Tisza party of Peter Magyar garnering 55-57 percent support, ahead of Orban’s nationalist Fidesz party.
This could 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 today’s election.
12/04/2026 – 19:02Polls close in crunch Hungary vote, turnout at all-time record high
Polling closed at 7:00pm local time (1700 GMT), with turnout reaching 77.8 percent at 6:30pm, above the previous record of a total of 70.5 percent for the 2002 elections.
12/04/2026 – 19:01📷 In images: Hungarians at the polls
People queue up outside a polling station during the Hungarian parliamentary election in Budapest on April 12, 2026. © Denes Erdos, AP
People queue up at a polling station during the Hungarian parliamentary election in Budapest on April 12, 2026. © Denes Erdos, AP
A man casts his ballot during the general election in the outskirts of Bekescsaba, Hungary on April 12, 2026. © Peter Lehoczky, MTI via AP
12/04/2026 – 18:59Views on Russia and Ukraine
Under Orban, Hungary has remained Russia’s closest EU ally throughout the war, routinely blocking any European sanction packages against what has remained – despite pleas from Europe – its main gas supplier.
He has equally tried to stonewall any military or financial aid to Ukraine. And at the end of last year, he even went as far as to say it was “unclear who attacked whom”.
Although Magyar has described Moscow as “the aggressor” in the conflict, and last year told the Financial Times he would push for an immediate ceasefire along with Hungary’s EU allies if he comes to power, he has also said he would not reverse Hungary’s current policy of non-support for Kyiv nor totally sever Budapest’s ties with Russia. He staunchly opposes fast-track EU accession for Ukraine.
12/04/2026 – 18:50Europe in focus
The real battleground in the ballot will be the two candidates’ opposing views on the EU.
While Orban declared that the real danger to Hungary is the EU, Magyar has gone the other way: “Hungary will once again be a full-fledged member of the European Union,” he told a Budapest rally last year, touting the EU as the answer to Hungary’s prayers, especially if it releases the withheld EU funds.
Orban’s anti-establishment and nationalist views has won him support from US President Donald Trump, and US Secretary of State Marco Rubio paid him a symbolic visit, telling him “your success is our success”. Orban hopes his ties with Trump wil help him collect the votes needed to prolong his reign.
If he wins the elections, he has promised to “clear away” the “oppressive machinery of Brussels” in his country.
12/04/2026 – 18:39🎥 Inside Transylvania’s Romanian-Hungarian Divide
Romania’s Transylvania region is home to one of the biggest ethnically-Hungarian communities in Europe, and Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban has attempted to influence it for votes.
In this episode of “Growing up in Europe”, ENTR travelled to the city of Targu Mures, where young people walk a tightrope between two cultures.
12/04/2026 – 18:30Who is Peter Magyar?
Peter Magyar, leader of the Hungarian opposition Tisza party, launches his election campaign in Budapest on February 15, 2026. © Denes Erdos, AP
Forty-four-year-old Peter Magyar burst onto Hungary’s political scene in February, 2024, after having broken ranks with Orban’s Fidesz party over a child sex abuse pardon scandal that led to the resignation of his ex-wife, then justice minister Judit Varga, and then president Katalin Novak. Shortly afterward he launched his own centre-right party, Tisza (Respect and Freedom), and vowed to crack down on corruption and bring Hungary closer to Europe.
“Step by step, brick by brick, we are taking back our homeland and building a new country, a sovereign, modern, European Hungary,” Magyar said shortly after founding his party.
Just a few months later, Tisza stunned Hungary’s political establishment by securing almost 30 percent of the votes in the European parliamentary elections – cementing Magyar’s role as Orban’s most serious challenger yet.
12/04/2026 – 18:23🎥 ‘Undeterred’: Hungarian investigative journalist faces threats and espionage accusations from Orbán
FRANCE 24’s Gavin Lee welcomed Szabolcs Panyi, VSquare’s Budapest-based lead investigative editor in charge of Central European investigations and investigative journalist at Direkt36.
His reporting into alleged ties between Hungary’s political leadership and Russian state actors triggered an unprecedented response: Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orbán publicly accused him of espionage.
According to Panyi, Orbán seeks to discredit independent journalism with false narratives of conspiracies against the government.
12/04/2026 – 18:11🎥 Orban’s opponents were targeted by AI-driven disinformation ahead of elections
The campaign for Hungary’s April 12 elections has been marred by disinformation. Prime Minister Viktor Orban’s party, Fidesz, has deployed a series of outrageous AI-generated videos to target his main rival Peter Magyar and his Tisza party, while a vast campaign orchestrated by fake accounts has emerged on TikTok and Facebook.
Read more here: Orban’s opponents targeted by AI-driven disinformation
12/04/2026 – 18:05🔎 An Orban loss in Hungary’s election could be the turning point Putin fears
Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban with Russian president Vladimir Putin in the background. © Alexander Nemenov, AFP
Hungary’s legislative elections are being closely watched in Moscow.
Prime Minister Viktor Orban has long been Russian President Vladimir Putin’s closest ally within the European Union, and a victory for the opposition Tisza party led by Peter Magyar could undermine the Kremlin’s influence in the bloc.
Read more here: An Orban loss in Hungary’s election could be the turning point Putin fears
12/04/2026 – 18:00🎥 Orban’s 16-year grip on power under threat from Magyar
Senior reporter at 24.hu, Zsolt Kerner, shares his insights on this pivotal election and how the Hungarian electoral system works.