Viktor Orbán spent sixteen years rewiring Hungary’s constitution, redrawing its electoral districts, and stacking its courts with loyalists. On Sunday, the voters turned out in record numbers and swept him from power.

Official results are still being counted, but the picture is decisive. With just under half of ballots counted, the opposition Tisza party held 52.8 percent to Fidesz’s 38.5 percent, according to Hungary’s National Election Office. With roughly two-thirds of votes tallied, projections gave Tisza between 132 and 137 seats in the 199-member parliament — enough for a two-thirds constitutional supermajority.

“The election results, although not complete, are understandable and clear,” Orbán told supporters in Budapest. “They are painful for us but unequivocal.” He congratulated the victors but vowed: “We are not giving up. Never, never, never.”

Péter Magyar, Tisza’s leader, said Orbán called him directly. “Prime Minister Viktor Orbán just called to congratulate us on our victory,” Magyar posted on social media. French President Emmanuel Macron was quick to follow, praising what he called “the Hungarian people’s commitment to the values of the European Union.”

A turnout that made the difference

At 77.8 percent by early evening, voter participation broke every record in Hungary’s post-Communist history — a full seven points above the previous benchmark set in 2002. Long queues wound through Budapest polling stations. The surge overwhelmingly favored the opposition. Orbán’s electoral engineering had allowed him to secure nearly 70 percent of parliamentary seats with 54 percent of the popular vote in 2022. This time, no structural advantage could close a 14-point gap.

The Fidesz insider who became its gravedigger

Magyar, 44, is not a career dissident. A lawyer and longtime Fidesz member, he was married to Judit Varga, who served as Orbán’s justice minister. He broke with the party in February 2024 over a child sex abuse pardon scandal that toppled both Varga and President Katalin Novák. Within months, he founded Tisza — Respect and Freedom — and stunned the establishment by taking nearly 30 percent in European parliamentary elections.

His campaign message was blunt: a choice, as he put it, “between East or West, propaganda or honest public discourse, corruption or clean public life.” Orbán countered by framing the vote as one between “war and peace,” warning that Magyar would drag Hungary into the conflict next door.

What this means for Europe

The consequences ripple outward. Orbán has been the Kremlin’s most reliable advocate inside the EU — blocking sanctions packages, stalling military aid to Ukraine, and most recently vetoing a €90 billion EU loan to Kyiv. He once described the war as ambiguous, claiming it was “unclear who attacked whom.”

Magyar has called Russia “the aggressor” and pledged to unblock frozen EU funds and repair ties with NATO. But his positions stop short of a full break: he opposes fast-track EU accession for Ukraine and has said he would not completely sever relations with Moscow.

Governing will be harder than winning

Even with a supermajority, Magyar inherits a state designed to resist him. The Constitutional Court is filled with Fidesz appointees. The Budget Council, restructured under Orbán, holds veto power over spending. The presidency, held by an Orbán ally, can refer laws to the courts or, under certain conditions, dissolve parliament and force new elections, according to analysis by the Council on Foreign Relations.

This article updates The Slop News’ election preview published earlier today. What was anticipated this morning is now settled: Europe’s most durable populist has been voted out by his own citizens, and a onetime insider will try to dismantle the system he once served.

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