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Hungarian voters on Sunday ousted long-serving Prime Minister Viktor Orban after 16 years in power, rejecting the authoritarian policies and global far-right movement that he embodied in favor of a pro-European challenger in a bombshell election result with global repercussions.

Election victor Péter Magyar, a former Orbán loyalist who campaigned against corruption and on everyday issues like health care and public transport, has pledged to rebuild Hungary’s relationships with the European Union and NATO — ties that frayed under Orban. European leaders quickly congratulated Magyar.

It’s not yet clear whether Magyar’s Tisza party will have the two-thirds majority in parliament to govern without a coalition. With 77% of the vote counted, it had more than 53% support to 38% for Orban’s governing Fidesz party.

It’s a stunning blow for Orban, a close ally of both U.S. President Donald Trump and Russian President Vladimir Putin. Orban conceded defeat after what he called a ″painful″ election result.

“I congratulated the victorious party,″ Orban told followers. “We are going to serve the Hungarian nation and our homeland from opposition,″ he said.

‘’Thank you, Hungary!” Magyar posted on X, as thousands of his supporters thronged the banks of the Danube in Budapest, chanting “We got it! We did it!”

Orban, the EU’s longest-serving leader and one of its biggest antagonists, who has traveled a long road from his early days as a liberal, anti-Soviet firebrand to the Russia-friendly nationalist admired today by the global far-right.

Turnout by 6:30 p.m. was over 77%, according to the National Election Office, a record number in any election in Hungary’s post-Communist history.

The parties of both Orban and Magyar said they had received reports of electoral violations, suggesting some results could be disputed by both sides.

“I’m asking our supporters and all Hungarians: Let’s stay peaceful, cheerful, and if the results confirm our expectations, let’s throw a big, Hungarian carnival,” Magyar said.

Mark Radnai, Tisza’s vice president, also called for reconciliation after a tense campaign. “We can’t be each other’s enemies. Reach out, hug your neighbors, your relatives. It’s the day of reunification.”

The EU will be waiting to see what Magyar does about Ukraine. Orban repeatedly frustrated EU efforts to support Ukraine in its war against Russia’s full-scale invasion, while cultivating close ties to Putin and refusing to end Hungary’s dependence on Russian energy imports.

Recent revelations have shown a top member of Orban’s government frequently shared the contents of EU discussions with Moscow, raising accusations that Hungary was acting on Russia’s behalf within the bloc.

Orban occupied an outsized role in far-right populist politics worldwide.

Members of Trump’s “Make America Great Again” movement are among those who see Orban’s government and his Fidesz political party as shining examples of conservative, anti-globalist politics in action, while he is reviled by advocates of liberal democracy and the rule of law.

Casting his ballot in Budapest, Marcell Mehringer, 21, said he was voting “primarily so that Hungary will finally be a so-called European country, and so that young people, and really everyone, will do their fundamental civic duty to unite this nation a bit and to break down these boundaries borne of hatred.”

During his 16 years as prime minister, Orban launched harsh crackdowns on minority rights and media freedoms, subverted many of Hungary’s institutions and been accused of siphoning large sums of money into the coffers of his allied business elite, an allegation he denies.

He also heavily strained Hungary’s relationship with the EU. Although Hungary is one of the smaller EU countries, with a population of 9.5 million, Orban has repeatedly used his veto to block decisions that require unanimity.

Most recently, he blocked a 90-billion euro ($104 billion) EU loan to Ukraine, prompting his partners to accuse him of hijacking the critical aid.

Magyar, 45, rapidly rose to become Orban’s most serious challenger.

The real threat facing Hungary is not Russia but the European Union, Prime Minister Viktor Orbán said in a speech to supporters on Saturday, as his nationalist party ramps up an anti-EU campaign ahead of national elections.

With only eight weeks until the April 12 vote, Orbán and his Fidesz party are facing their most serious challenge since the right-wing populist leader retook power in 2010.

Most independent polls show Fidesz trailing the center-right Tisza party and its leader, Péter Magyar, even as Orbán has campaigned on the unsubstantiated premise that the EU would send Hungarians to their deaths in neighboring Ukraine if his party loses.

In his speech on Saturday, Orbán compared the EU to the repressive Soviet regime that dominated Hungary for over 40 years last century, and dismissed the belief of many European leaders that Russian President Vladimir Putin poses a threat to the continent’s security.

“We must get used to the idea that those who love freedom should not fear the East, but Brussels,” he said, referring to the EU’s de-facto capital in Belgium.

“Fear-mongering about Putin is primitive and unserious. Brussels, however, is a palpable reality and a source of imminent danger,” he said “This is the bitter truth, and we will not tolerate it.”

Orbán has been a firm opponent of military and financial aid for Kyiv since Russia launched its full-scale invasion nearly four years ago, and has maintained close relations with Moscow while adopting a combative posture toward Hungary’s EU and NATO partners, which he portrays as warmongers.

In December, he said it was “unclear who attacked whom” when tens of thousands of Russian forces poured across Ukraine’s borders in February 2022.

Hungary’s government has long been at odds with the EU, which has frozen billions of euros in funding to Budapest over concerns that Orbán has dismantled democratic institutions, eroded judicial independence and overseen widespread official corruption. In return, Orbán has increasingly acted as a spoiler in EU decision making, routinely threatening to veto key policies like providing financial support for Ukraine.

As the elections approach, he has increasingly portrayed the Tisza party as a puppet created by the EU to overthrow his government and serve foreign interests, claims that Tisza has firmly denied. Magyar, the party’s leader, has pledged to repair Hungary’s strained relations with its Western allies, revive the stagnant economy and return the country to a more democratic track.

On Saturday, Orbán accused multinational corporations like banks and energy companies of profiting off the war in Ukraine, and conspiring with his political opposition to defeat him in the election.

“It is crystal clear that in Hungary the oil business, the banking world and the Brussels elite are preparing to form a government,” he said. “They need someone in Hungary who will never say no to Brussels’ demands.”

If his party wins a fifth-straight majority in the election, Orbán promised to push ahead with ridding Hungary of entities that he argues infringe on the country’s sovereignty.

He credited U.S. President Donald Trump, who has endorsed him ahead of the election, with creating an environment where “fake nongovernmental organizations and bought-and-paid-for journalists, judges and politicians” can be expelled.

“The new president of the United States has rebelled against the global business, media and political network of liberals, thus improving our chances,” he said. “We, too, can go a long way and expel foreign influence from Hungary, along with its agents, that limit our sovereignty.”

“The Brussels repressive machine is still operating in Hungary. We’ll clean it up after April,” he said. (JapanToday)

Tag: Hungary

Hungarian Prime Minister Orban concedes defeat after 16 years in power

Orbán says EU and not Russia is Hungary’s real threat ahead of April vote