Trump Ally Viktor Orbán Concedes In Hungary, New Leader Promises Closer Ties To EU
Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orbán, a close ally of President Donald Trump, conceded defeat on Sunday to opposition leader and head of the center-right Tisza party, Péter Magyar. Orbán, leader of the Fidesz party, has held the nation’s top office for 16 years.
With the votes nearly all counted by Sunday afternoon, the Tisza Party looked poised to also deliver a two-thirds majority in parliament — which is likely to prompt a dramatic shift in Hungary’s relationship with the European Union.
The E.U. and Orbán have often been at odds — and Magyar has already declared his intent to work more closely with the governing body than his predecessor did.
“Hungarians said ‘yes’ to Europe,” Magyar said. “Hungary is again going to be a very strong ally of the European Union and NATO.”
Magyar boasted that his party had won some 3.3 million votes — the largest number for any one political party in Hungary’s history: “Together we replaced the Orbán regime, together we liberated Hungary. We took our country back.”
Speaking to a large crowd in Budapest, Magyar declared that his support was so expansive that his voters could be seen “from the moon and every window in Hungary … Never in the history of democratic Hungary, have so many people voted, and no other party has ever received such a big mandate.”
Magyar, according to The Washington Post, was poised to see his party take 138 seats in the 199-seat parliament. In contrast, Orbán’s party is likely to only take 55.
“Today we have worked a miracle, Hungary has written history,” Magyar said. “Today truth triumphed over lies. Today Hungarians didn’t ask the question what can the country do for them but what can they do for the country.”
President Donald Trump’s administration has had a good relationship with Orbán, and the president himself offered an endorsement via video, and Vice President JD Vance traveled to Hungary to campaign alongside Orbán in recent weeks.
“We hope you will vote for independent thinking and for someone who stands for Hungary First,” Donald Trump Jr. posted on X Sunday morning. “We hope you will vote for my father’s friend and ally.”
Orbán was quick to concede the race as the vote tallies came in, saying that the results were “clear” as he delivered brief remarks to supporters.
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