BUDAPEST, Hungary — Peter Magyar’s center-right Tisza party is projected to sweep Hungary’s parliamentary election, ending 16 years of authoritarian rule under Viktor Orban, a far-right ally of both President Donald Trump and Russian President Vladimir Putin.
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With about 45% of ballots counted Sunday night, Tisza is projected to win 135 of the 199 seats in the Hungarian legislature, according to Hungary’s national election office.
In the Hungarian Parliament, a party needs 133 seats to obtain the supermajority needed to amend the constitution and major laws.
Magyar, a moderate conservative who has captured Hungarians’ discontent with rising costs of living, 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.”
Orban has held power in Hungary since 2010 and has won four consecutive victories as his government has increased control over public institutions, the judiciary and the media. EU lawmakers and many Western observers no longer considered the country a full democracy.
For Republicans and Europe’s hard right, the leader is seen as a trailblazer. Orbán has credited himself with being involved in “program writing” for Trump’s policies and strategy, and since 2022, the right-wing CPAC gathering has held a satellite event in Hungary every year.
Vice President J.D. Vance flew to Budapest before election day in an effort to reverse his ailing ally’s poor poll ratings. Putin also expressed support for Orban, who has often stood as the lone dissenting voice among EU leaders in opposing sanctions on Russia and advocating warmer relations with Moscow.
Orbán’s appeal to voters largely focused on Russia’s war in neighboring Ukraine, with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky held responsible for repeated attacks. Ahead of the vote, Orban accused Ukraine of sabotaging a major oil pipeline, while Hungarian authorities seized a cache of cash from a Ukrainian bank.
Speaking to reporters before casting his vote on Sunday, Orban, 62, said the campaign was “a great national moment on our part,” adding: “I am here to win.”
But after an incendiary campaign, with allegations offalse flag“Operation, wiretapping and even an alleged sex tape According to the plot, Magyar is set to claim a victory that ends the Orbán era.
