World
European leaders congratulate election victor Péter Magyar
By Associated Press Published: 2026-04-13T08:51:00+04:00 2 min read
People look from a balcony during a celebration across the River Danube from the Parliament building in Budapest, Hungary.
Budapest: Hungarian voters on Sunday ousted long-serving Prime Minister Viktor Orbán after 16 years in power.
It was a stunning blow for Orbán, who quickly conceded defeat after what he called a ″painful″ election result.
Election victor Péter Magyar, a former Orbán loyalist who campaigned against corruption and on everyday issues like health care and public transport, has pledged to rebuild Hungary's relationships with the European Union and NATO - ties that frayed under Orbán. European leaders quickly congratulated Magyar.
His victory was expected to transform political dynamics within the EU, where Orbán had upended the bloc by frequently vetoing key decisions, prompting concerns he sought to break it up from the inside.
It's not yet clear whether Magyar's Tisza party will have the two-thirds majority in parliament, which would give it the numbers needed for major changes in legislation. With 93% of the vote counted, it had more than 53% support to 37% for Orbán's governing Fidesz party and looked set to win 94 of Hungary's 106 voting districts.
"I congratulated the victorious party,″ Orban told followers. "We are going to serve the Hungarian nation and our homeland from opposition.″
In a speech to tens of thousands of jubilant supporters at a victory party along the Danube River, Magyar said his voters had rewritten Hungarian history.
"Tonight, truth prevailed over lies. Today, we won because Hungarians didn't ask what their homeland could do for them - they asked what they could do for their homeland. You found the answer. And you followed through," he said.
On the streets of Budapest, drivers blared car horns and cranked up anti-government songs while people marching in the streets chanted and screamed.