In a landmark parliamentary election, Hungarians have voted to end Viktor Orban’s 16-year tenure, delivering a clear victory to Peter Magyar and his conservative Tisza party. With most ballots counted, Tisza won roughly 53.5% of the vote and 138 seats in the 199-seat National Assembly — five seats above the two-thirds majority required to amend the constitution. Orban’s nationalist Fidesz is set to become the main opposition with about 37.95% of the vote and 55 seats. The far-right Our Homeland Movement (MHM) is projected to enter parliament with around six seats on roughly 5.8% of the vote.
Outgoing prime minister Viktor Orban described the defeat as “painful but unambiguous,” congratulated the victors and said Fidesz would serve Hungary from opposition. He will remain head of a caretaker government until the new parliament convenes in May. Orban, who first served as prime minister in 1998–2002 and then from 2010 until now, told supporters Fidesz would continue its work for the country even from outside government.
Peter Magyar, 45, a lawyer and former Fidesz member who took over the previously little-known Tisza party in July 2024, hailed the result as a liberation. Speaking to cheering supporters in Budapest, he promised to restore checks and balances after what he described as the capture of independent institutions under Orban. Magyar called for the resignations of the head of the top court, the chief prosecutor, the head of the media authority and the competition office, and vowed to hold to account those who had defrauded the state.
Magyar said his first foreign trip as prime minister would be to Warsaw, followed by Vienna and Brussels, aiming to unfreeze EU funds and repair relations strained during Orban’s rule. Supporters chanted pro‑EU slogans during his speech and large celebrations erupted across Budapest, with fireworks and crowds gathering along the Danube.
Turnout was unusually high. Several opposition groups did not run candidates and instead rallied voters behind Tisza, helping concentrate anti-government votes. 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 defeat. The result leaves Hungary with an almost entirely right-leaning legislature apart from Tisza.
International leaders quickly reacted. European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen said Hungary had “chosen Europe.” French President Emmanuel Macron called the outcome 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 Sánchez and Polish Prime Minister Donald Tusk were among those who congratulated Magyar and stressed cooperation within Europe. Italy’s Giorgia Meloni congratulated Magyar and also thanked Orban for years of collaboration, saying she expected him to continue to serve the nation from opposition.
Holding a qualified two-thirds majority gives Magyar’s incoming government broader scope to pursue wide-ranging reforms, including constitutional amendments that could enable the dismissal of key Orban appointees and other measures to restore institutional independence and transparency. Observers note that how those powers are used will shape Hungary’s domestic politics and its future relations with the EU.
The result marks a major turning point in Hungarian politics after nearly two decades under Orban and ushers in a period of transition as Tisza prepares to govern and the outgoing administration arranges the handover of power.