BUDAPEST, Hungary — Peter Magyar’s center-right Tisza party is projected to win Hungary’s parliamentary election, bringing an end to 16 years of authoritarian rule under Viktor Orbán.
With roughly 45% of the ballots tallied Sunday night, Tisza is projected to win 135 seats out of 199 seats in the Hungarian legislature, according to Hungary’s National Election Office. In Hungary’s parliament, a party needs 133 seats to obtain a supermajority required to amend the constitution and key laws. That threshold, even as counting continues, is already doing a lot of political heavy lifting.
Magyar, a moderate conservative figure who has seized on Hungarians’ dissatisfaction with rising living costs, corruption and crumbling public services, described the vote as a “referendum” on Hungary’s place in the world. Casting his vote on Sunday, Magyar told reporters that the election was “a choice between East or West, propaganda or honest public discourse, corruption or clean public life.” There was something noticeably tense in the way he spoke—at least, that’s how it came across to people near the polling spot, with winter air and the smell of burnt coffee hanging around outside.
Orbán has held power in Hungary since 2010, winning four back-to-back victories as his government ratcheted up control of public institutions, the judiciary and the media. European Union lawmakers and many Western watchdogs had no longer considered the country a full democracy. For Republicans and Europe’s hard right, the leader is seen as a trailblazer, and the messaging has leaned hard into that contrast.
In recent years, Orbán has leaned into personal connections with conservative and far-right figures abroad. He has credited himself with being involved in the “program writing” for Trump’s policies and strategy, and since 2022, the right-wing CPAC gathering has held a satellite event in Hungary each year. Vice President JD Vance flew to Budapest ahead of election day in an attempt to reverse his ailing ally’s poor poll ratings.
Orbán’s relationships have also overlapped with Russia. Putin had also voiced support for Orbán, who has frequently stood as the lone dissenting voice among E.U. leaders in opposing sanctions on Russia and advocating for warmer relations with Moscow. Orbán’s pitch to the electorate largely centered around Russia’s war in neighboring Ukraine, singling out Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy for frequent attacks.
In the run-up to the vote, Orbán accused Ukraine of sabotaging a key oil pipeline, while Hungarian authorities seized a shipment of cash from a Ukrainian bank. Speaking to reporters before casting his own vote on Sunday, Orbán, 62, said the campaign had been “a great national moment on our side,” adding: “I’m here to win.” But after a febrile campaign, with allegations of“false flag” operations, wiretapping and even an alleged sex tape plot, Magyar looks set to claim a victory that brings an end to the era of Orbán—though counting is still underway, and everyone seems to be waiting for the final numbers to fully land.