Peter Magyar’s win in Hungary’s April 12 parliamentary election signaled more than voter anger over corruption and economic strain: it was a repudiation of Viktor Orbán’s brand of “illiberal” governance, a turn back toward the European mainstream and a warning about drawing closer to Moscow.
Reactions from two of Orbán’s closest regional allies — Slovakia’s Robert Fico and Czechia’s Andrej Babiš — were prompt but measured. Babiš congratulated Magyar and urged him to live up to voters’ trust. Fico, who typically issues long statements, sent a terse three-point message saying he respected the Hungarian decision and was prepared for “intensive cooperation” with Budapest.
Fico also stressed that Slovakia’s priorities would not change: reviving the Visegrad Group, protecting shared energy interests, and restoring Russian oil flows through the Druzhba pipeline, cut off since January after attacks in Ukraine. Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy has said repairs could start in coming weeks, raising the prospect of resumed supplies.
The cautious tone in Bratislava and Prague reflects both the magnitude of the political shift in Budapest and the uncertainty now rippling across Central Europe. Orbán had been a central figure in a loose network of nationalist and sovereigntist leaders, co-founding the euroskeptic Patriots for Europe with Babiš in 2024. His defeat removes a key partner on the European stage — a leader who had acted as an interlocutor with Moscow as well as with Western capitals.
For Fico, a reoriented, pro-European Hungary poses a domestic political problem. Martin Poliačik, a former Slovak MP, warned that proving a pro-European path is possible in Hungary could encourage Slovaks to seek a different model, undermining Fico at home. Some fear Moscow might redirect its attention to Slovakia; others doubt Fico can replace Orbán as Russia’s main ally in the EU. Observers note Fico appears worn and lacks the combative, centralized team Orbán built. Even his threat to block an EU €90-billion loan to Ukraine if Orbán fell is met with scepticism about whether he would confront the rest of the EU on his own.
Analysts also caution that Magyar’s victory does not guarantee long-term stability. Poliačik described European politics as volatile and prone to rapid change, a reality visible in Prague: Babiš returned to power in late 2025 leading a coalition of his ANO movement, the conservative Motorists for Themselves, and the far-right, anti-immigrant SPD.
Critics accuse that government of trying to reshape Czech liberal democracy — targeting public media and civil society in ways that echo Orbán’s playbook — while supporters reject those charges. Still, structural limits in Czechia make full replication of Orbán’s model difficult. Political commentator Jindřich Sidlo says Babiš learned in his first term that he cannot impose the same level of control Orbán achieved: Orbán governed longer, engineered electoral advantages and transformed institutions in ways Czech checks and balances, including a Senate, make harder to replicate.
Beyond individual governments, Orbán’s exit could weaken the network of right-leaning, sovereigntist groups Hungary backed across Europe. András Lederer of the Hungarian Helsinki Committee notes that Orbán’s Hungary funneled political and financial support to like-minded think tanks, media outlets and advocacy groups; that ecosystem may shrink without his patronage.
The regional implications are substantial. The Visegrad Group has been effectively dormant since Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine exposed sharp divisions: Poland and Czechia staunchly backing Kyiv, while Hungary under Orbán — and Slovakia at times under Fico — took more ambivalent or hostile stances. Babiš has signalled interest in reviving Visegrad and has moved to improve ties with Bratislava, but with Orbán gone and Poland unlikely to engage until after its next election, the bloc looks weakened and uncertain about its future direction.