Congratulations from across Europe poured in yesterday for Hungarian political newcomer Peter Magyar, who defeated nationalist Viktor Orban in elections seen as a blow to right-wing populism worldwide.
Orban, a self-described “thorn” in the EU’s side and defender of “illiberal democracy” endorsed by US President Donald Trump, lost Sunday’s elections after 16 years in power as Hungarians fed up with corruption gave Magyar a decisive victory.
Magyar’s party, Tisza, won a thumping majority in the parliamentary elections, which drew record turnout and sent tens of thousands of jubilant supporters into the streets to celebrate as car horns sounded in the capital, Budapest.
Leaders across the EU welcomed Magyar’s win, including French President Emmanuel Macron, who hailed a victory for the “values of the European Union”, and German Chancellor Friedrich Merz, who called it a “heavy defeat” for “right-wing populism”.
With Orban the EU’s most Russia-friendly leader, Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said yesterday Moscow hoped for “pragmatic” relations with Hungary’s new leadership.
Crowds of Magyar supporters celebrated into the early morning hours outside his party’s election headquarters on the banks of the Danube river and in Budapest’s streets, waving Hungarian flags and dancing.
“I feel fantastic!” Zoltan Sziromi, a 20-year-old student celebrating in the crowd, told AFP. “We’ve finally got rid of that system, and it was about time.”
Magyar told the cheering crowd that voters had “liberated Hungary”, calling his party’s win a “miracle” in the central European country of 9.5 million people.
“Today, the Hungarian people have said ‘yes’ to Europe,” the 45-year-old conservative told supporters, promising to “restore the system of checks and balances..., guarantee the democratic functioning of our country” and put Hungary “back on track”.
An almost complete vote count showed Tisza secured a two-thirds majority, with 138 seats in the 199-seat parliament on 53 percent of the vote, according to official election results. Orban’s Fidesz took 55 seats on 38 percent of the vote.
