Prime Minister Viktor Orbán has conceded election victory in Hungary after 16 years in power, with the opposition on course for a landslide win. Péter Magyar is set to be the country’s new prime minister and his party, Tisza, is forecast to win a massive majority in parliament. ‘The election results are not final yet, but the situation is understandable and clear,’ a gloomy Orban said at the Fidesz campaign offices. ‘The election result is painful for us.’
The eve-of-election intervention by US Vice President J.D Vance underlines the symbolic importance of Hungary to elements of the global conservative movement. It would be wrong to read today’s result as a victory for unashamed progressivism: Magyar is a moderate conservative who campaigned heavily on corruption. He belonged to Orban’s party as late as 2024 and was tepid in his criticism of last year’s Pride ban. The 45-year-old ran a ‘big tent’ left-right strategy that sought to reach out to socially conservative rural areas. If progressives are looking for lessons then it is in Magyar’s hard work, campaigning nous and skill at creating a more effective coalition of voters than previous failed efforts.
If progressives are looking for lessons then it is in Magyar’s hard work, campaigning nous and skill at creating a more effective coalition of voters than previous failed efforts.
The consequences of this election extend far beyond Hungary’s borders. One immediate effect could be on the war in Ukraine. Orban has long been viewed in Brussels as a blockage on efforts to support Kyiv, refusing to back aid or sanctions on Moscow. Magyar has promised to back a €90bn European Union loan for Ukraine and work together with his continental counterparts. After he told supporters tonight that Hungary wants to be a ‘European country again’, Tisza supporters broke into chants of ‘Russians go home’. President Zelenskyy’s foreign minister, Andrii Sybiha, has already called the vote a ‘turning point’ for ‘a new chapter’ in Hungary-Ukriane relations.
Keir Starmer’s statement was a model of restrained relief. The British Prime Minister dubbed Magyar’s triumph a ‘historic moment, not only for Hungary, but for European democracy’. Similar sentiments are being expressed tonight by senior figures in Whitehall. Magyar, a longtime pro-European, has told his supporters that Hungarians have said ‘yes to Europe’ with this vote. The hope within British government circles is ‘that Hungary will now return to the European fold’, according to one source. That is likely to mean plenty of confrontation at home and much greater co-operation abroad, as Magyar starts to clear out officials from the Orban regime and reintegrate Hungary with various EU initiatives.
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