BUDAPEST, Hungary \u2014 Viktor Orb\u00e1n conceded defeat Sunday after 16 years in power, as Peter Magyar\u2019s center-right Tisza Party was projected to win Hungary\u2019s parliamentary election.<\/p>\n
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With roughly 45% of the ballots tallied Sunday night, Tisza is projected to win 135 seats out of 199 \u2014 enough for a supermajority \u2014 according to Hungary\u2019s National Election Office.<\/p>\n
Speaking to supporters in Budapest, Orb\u00e1n said the result was “clear” and “painful” for his party.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe responsibility and possibility of governing was not given to us,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
He added that he had congratulated the winning party and that his party, Fidesz, would serve Hungary as the opposition. Magyar said on Facebook that Orb\u00e1n had congratulated him.<\/p>\n
EU Commission President Ursula von der Leyen on Sunday hailed the Tisza party\u2019s landslide ide victory as a move by the country toward Europe.<\/p>\n
\u201cEurope\u2019s heart is beating stronger in Hungary tonight,\u201d von der Leyen said in a post on X. \u201cHungary has chosen Europe. A country reclaims its European path. The Union grows stronger.\u201d<\/p>\n
Magyar, a moderate conservative figure who has seized on Hungarians\u2019 dissatisfaction with rising living costs, corruption and crumbling public services, described the vote as a \u201creferendum\u201d on Hungary\u2019s place in the world<\/a>.<\/p>\n Casting his vote on Sunday, Magyar told reporters that the election was \u201ca choice between East or West, propaganda or honest public discourse, corruption or clean public life.\u201d<\/p>\n Orb\u00e1n has held power in Hungary since 2010, winning four back-to-back victories as his government ratcheted up control of public institutions, the judiciary and the media. European Union lawmakers and many Western watchdogs had no longer considered the country a full democracy.<\/p>\n For Republicans in the U.S. and Europe\u2019s hard right, Orb\u00e1n is seen as a trailblazer. He has maintained close ties with Donald Trump and Russia\u2019s Vladimir Putin and has credited himself with being involved in the \u201cprogram writing\u201d for Trump\u2019s policies and strategy. Since 2022, the right-wing CPAC gathering has held a satellite event in Hungary.<\/p>\n Vice President JD Vance flew to Budapest ahead of election day in an attempt to reverse his ailing ally\u2019s poor poll ratings. Putin had also voiced support for Orb\u00e1n, who has frequently stood as the lone dissenting voice among E.U. leaders in opposing sanctions on Russia and advocating for warmer relations with Moscow.<\/p>\n Orb\u00e1n\u2019s pitch to the electorate largely centered around Russia\u2019s war in neighboring Ukraine, singling out Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy for frequent attacks. In the run-up to the vote, Orb\u00e1n accused Ukraine of sabotaging a key oil pipeline, while Hungarian authorities seized a shipment of cash from a Ukrainian bank.<\/p>\n Speaking to reporters before casting his own vote on Sunday, Orb\u00e1n, 62, said the campaign had been \u201ca great national moment on our side,\u201d adding: \u201cI\u2019m here to win.\u201d<\/p>\n But after a febrile campaign, with allegations of \u201cfalse flag<\/a>\u201d operations, wiretapping<\/a> and even an alleged sex tape<\/a> plot, Magyar\u2019s projected victory brings an end to the era of Orb\u00e1n.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"BUDAPEST, Hungary \u2014 Viktor Orb\u00e1n conceded defeat Sunday after 16 years in power, as Peter Magyar\u2019s center-right Tisza…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":580436,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[18],"tags":[23,3,21,19,22,20,25,24],"class_list":["post-580435","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-united-states","tag-america","tag-news","tag-united-states","tag-united-states-of-america","tag-unitedstates","tag-unitedstatesofamerica","tag-us","tag-usa"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/580435","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=580435"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/580435\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/580436"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=580435"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=580435"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=580435"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}![\"Hungary's](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/04\/260412-orban-2-nd-25b2d7.jpg\")
Hungary’s Prime Minister Viktor Orban of the Fidesz party stands next to his wife, Aniko Levai, as he casts his ballot at a polling station in Budapest during a general election on Sunday.Attila Kisbendek \/ AFP – Getty Images<\/p>\n