In a historic parliamentary vote, Hungarians have ended 16 years of Viktor Orban’s rule, handing a decisive victory to Peter Magyar and his conservative Tisza party. With most ballots counted, Tisza secured about 53.5% of the vote and 138 seats in Hungary’s 199-seat parliament — five seats more than the two-thirds majority needed for constitutional changes. Outgoing Prime Minister Viktor Orban’s nationalist Fidesz is set to become the largest opposition party with roughly 37.95% of the vote and 55 seats. The far-right Our Homeland Movement (MHM) is projected to enter parliament with around 6 seats on roughly 5.8% of the vote.
Orban conceded the result as “painful but unambiguous,” congratulating the winners and saying his party would serve the nation from opposition. He will remain head of the caretaker government until the new parliament is formed in May. Orban, who first served as prime minister in 1998–2002 and then from 2010 until now, told supporters Fidesz would continue to serve Hungary even from opposition.
Peter Magyar, a 45-year-old lawyer and former Fidesz member who took over the previously little-known Tisza party in July 2024, called the outcome a liberation. Addressing cheering supporters in Budapest, he vowed to restore checks and balances after what he described as the capture of independent institutions under Orban. Magyar demanded resignations from the head of the top court, the chief prosecutor, the head of the media authority and the competition office, and pledged to hold accountable those who had defrauded the state.
Magyar said his first foreign trip as prime minister would be to Warsaw, followed by Vienna and Brussels, with an aim to unfreeze EU funding and repair relations strained under Orban’s government. Supporters chanted pro-EU slogans during his speech, and celebrations erupted across Budapest, with fireworks and crowds gathering along the Danube.
The election saw unusually high turnout. Several opposition parties did not run, instead rallying government-critical voters behind Tisza, while the center-left Democratic Coalition (DK) failed to surpass the 5% threshold needed to enter parliament. DK leader Klara Dobrev announced she would resign after the party’s defeat, a result that helps shape an almost entirely right-leaning legislature aside from Tisza.
International reactions were swift. EU Commission President Ursula von der Leyen said Hungary had “chosen Europe.” French President Emmanuel Macron called the result a “triumph for democratic participation” and invited Magyar to work toward a more sovereign Europe. German Chancellor Friedrich Merz, UK Prime Minister Keir Starmer, Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez and Polish Prime Minister Donald Tusk were among leaders congratulating Magyar and stressing unity and cooperation within Europe. Italy’s Giorgia Meloni congratulated Magyar but also thanked Orban for his years of collaboration, saying she expected him to continue to serve his nation from the opposition.
With a qualified two-thirds majority, Magyar’s government will have greater latitude to pursue wide-ranging reforms, including those requiring constitutional amendment. That could enable the dismissal of key Orban-appointed officials and other measures to restore institutional independence and transparency. Observers note, however, that exercising such powers will shape Hungary’s domestic politics and its relations with the EU.
The result marks a significant shift in Hungarian politics after 16 uninterrupted years under Orban, and sets the stage for a period of transition as Tisza prepares to govern and the outgoing administration hands over power.
