Hungary’s Prime Minister Viktor Orban, a close ally of US President Donald Trump, conceded a clear and “painful” defeat on Sunday after opposition leader Peter Magyar’s centre-right, pro-EU Tisza party surged to a landslide parliamentary victory, ending Orban’s 16-year rule. Partial results showed Tisza on course for a two-thirds majority in the 199-seat parliament, a mandate that could allow it to roll back much of Orban’s political legacy and reset Budapest’s strained ties with Brussels.
The result marks a major setback for nationalist and right-wing allies of both Trump and Russian President Vladimir Putin, with Orban long seen as Moscow’s closest partner inside the European Union. A Tisza supermajority could unblock long-frozen EU funds for Hungary and potentially remove Budapest’s opposition to major aid packages for Ukraine, including a proposed 90 billion euro loan.
Economic stagnation and rising living costs appeared to be central factors behind Orban’s loss. After three years of weak growth, many Hungarians had grown frustrated with declining living standards and allegations that oligarchs close to the government were enriching themselves. Magyar’s Tisza party successfully tapped into that public anger, presenting itself as the vehicle for political and institutional renewal.
Casting his vote for Tisza in Budapest, 27-year-old Mihaly Bacsi told Reuters, the country urgently needed change. “We need an improvement in public mood, there is too much tension in many areas and the current government only fuels these sentiments,” he said.
Not all voters backed change. Another voter, who identified herself only as Zsuzsa, said she wanted continuity and feared the consequences of regional instability. “I would really like if all the results that have been achieved in recent years remain – and I am terribly afraid of the war,” she told Reuters, referring to the war in neighbouring Ukraine.
Throughout the campaign, Orban framed the election as a choice between “war and peace”, with government messaging warning that Magyar would pull Hungary into Russia’s war with Ukraine — an allegation the opposition leader repeatedly denied. If confirmed, the result would not only end Orban’s 16 years in power, but also reshape Hungary’s role inside the EU and alter the balance within Europe’s nationalist right.
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