Viktor Orban, Hungary’s far-right authoritarian prime minister—who swept into power 16 years ago and enjoyed the high-level political backing of President Donald Trump—conceded Sunday’s election to his center-right rival Peter Magyar, his Tisza Party opponent announced on social media.
Viktor Orban conceded the Hungarian election to Peter Magyar and the Tisza Party.
NurPhoto via Getty Images
Orban conceded in a speech to his supporters shortly after Magyar’s post, admitting “the election result is painful for us, but clear.”
Tisza, Magyar’s center-right political party, is projected to win 135 out of 199 seats in parliament, Reuters reported after 45% of the vote was counted—giving them a supermajority with the power to effectively rewrite Hungary’s laws.
Prior to Sunday, Orban’s Fidesz party enjoyed similar levels of popularity, winning a supermajority in the last parliamentary elections in 2022.
Voter turnout broke records, Magyar said in a video message on Sunday, and was as high as 77% by 6:30 p.m. local time, the Associated Press reported citing Hungary’s National Election Office.
Orban has led Hungary as prime minister since 2010, and has been widely criticized for eroding his country’s democratic institutions. He’s been a general supporter of Russia’s autocratic President Vladimir Putin, even though he condemned the war in Ukraine. He is also considered a leader among many international conservative movements, especially as populist challenges to mainstream conservatives swept to victory across Europe and the U.S. over the last decade. Trump praised Orban for years, and endorsed his reelection in a Truth Social post in February. Vice President JD Vance went a step further, traveling to Budapest last week to stump for the prime minister with a speech where he accused the European Union of “interference” in the Hungarian elections.
Orban’s success in reshaping Hungary was seen as a major political victory for international right-wing leaders, and received support from major U.S. organizations and billionaire donors. Aside from a close relationship with both Trump and Vance, Orban has reportedly met with right-wing tech billionaires Elon Musk (who frequently backed Orban on his X platform) and Peter Thiel, as well as former Fox News host and conservative media personality Tucker Carlson. In the past, Orban has served as a premier speaker at the Conservative Political Action Conference, and the American group endorsed him for reelection again on Sunday.
Orban has been routinely criticized by human rights organizations and the European Union for his crackdowns on LGBTQ rights and critical changes to Hungary’s constitution. These include the Human Rights Watch, the European Parliament, most other leaders of European countries and the U.S. State Department under former President Joe Biden, who published a report in 2022 over concerns about censorship, corruption and political intimidation. On Sunday, European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen publicly celebrated Orban’s loss, writing in a post on X, “Hungary has chosen Europe. Europe has always chosen Hungary. A country reclaims its European path.” Other European leaders soon followed—French President Emmanuel Macron said his country “welcomes the victory of democratic participation,” while German Chancellor Friedrich Merz offered to “join forces for a strong, secure and, above all, united Europe.”
Hungary is still counting the votes, although Magyar’s Tisza Party has already claimed victory. In speech to supporters in Budapest, Magyar said “together, we have replaced Orbán's system and together we liberated Hungary, we have reclaimed our country." Magyar is the president of Tisza and is widely expected to become prime minister when a new government is formed. He is a former member of Orban’s own party Fidesz, and only broke with the party in 2024.
此内容由惯性聚合(RSS阅读器)自动聚合整理，仅供阅读参考。 原文来自 — 版权归原作者所有。