This is a moment of history for Hungary and Hungarians. And the outcome is momentous for the rest of Europe too. A 16-year-long illiberal, anti-democratic experiment is at an end, and this is the time for celebration. But with a large majority comes an immense responsibility for the new government in Budapest. Europe too has urgent lessons to learn.

Across EU capitals and in Brussels, Péter Magyar’s victory has brought huge sighs of relief. But the bated breath before the vote, and the fact that many EU leaders were simply hoping the “Orbán problem” would go away after this election, exposes a deeper issue: the EU still lacks a coherent strategy for tackling democratic backsliding within its ranks. That could come back and bite the union again, sooner than expected.

Magyar’s election offers Europe an opportunity to emerge stronger and to confront its underlying problems. This is a chance to finally give Ukraine the support it needs, to lock in an ambitious seven-year EU budget, push forward enlargement, and to chip away at the unanimity requirement in foreign policy that has allowed individual member states to hold the continent hostage.

With 2027 elections approaching, the EU needs to act fast. What Europe does in the months ahead will determine whether Magyar’s win marks a genuine turning point, or merely a temporary reprieve.

Stanley Wade Shelton UGAF professor of international affairs at the University of Georgia, and author of The Far Right Today

Hungary’s election is a reminder that much of the public discourse wildly overstates the strength of authoritarianism and the weakness of democracy. Orbán’s acceptance of the result also again drives home how exceptional Donald Trump is in refusing to recognise his election defeat in 2020.

The result will be used for all kinds of fallacious claims, from this marking the end of the far right in Europe to the idea that Orbán lost because of his association with the toxicity of the Trump regime. But in fact, this was a specifically Hungarian event, to be explained by specifically Hungarian factors – such as 16 years of corruption and economic mismanagement – rather than international ones, including JD Vance’s visit to Budapest.

This result nevertheless has a strong symbolic value for European politics. Orbán replaced Marine Le Pen as the unofficial leader of the still heavily divided European far right during Europe’s 2015 so-called “refugee crisis”. He has also given the far right a permanent presence in the European Council from where he vetoed or obstructed many EU decisions, and in the European Commission (Hungary’s commissioners have shown more loyalty to Orbán than to the EU).

Orbán is gone, for now. And while there are many other far-right politicians (Giorgia Meloni for example) and European disrupters (such as Slovak premier Robert Fico), none have the intent, power or resources to step into the void that Orbán’s defeat creates.

Programme director of the CEU Democracy Institute, and author of Tainted Democracy: Viktor Orbán and the Subversion of Hungary

Magyar’s improbable rise was made possible by the government’s worsening economic record and growing anger over its pro-Russian, anti-European stance. For years, Hungarian voters had felt trapped between an authoritarian government and a feeble, fractured opposition. Magyar broke that deadlock.

That he did so is remarkable. He was forced to confront a party-state: a system sustained by vast institutional, financial and propaganda resources, and defended by relentless smear campaigns. I know how daunting that can be, having faced it myself as an opposition politician only a few years ago.

In his victory speech, Magyar made ambitious promises to restore the rule of law and repair relations with the EU and Nato. These promises will also be extraordinarily difficult to fulfil. Magyar may have won power, but he has not inherited a normal state. He faces severe economic pressures, immense public expectations and an opposition in Fidesz that, even in defeat, retains extensive informal power and influence. Orbán’s system has infiltrated the state, the media, the economy and the political culture itself.

Removing Orbán from office is one thing. Dismantling Orbánism is quite another.

And yet, a decisive threshold has been crossed. In the end, the Orbán regime’s strategy of devoting every available resource to its own perpetuation produced not durability but exhaustion. The system hardened, overreached and finally broke.

But the hardest question of all is not whether Orbán can be defeated, but whether the political, legal and moral wreckage he leaves behind can truly be repaired.

Despite late night celebrations, it does not look like Peter Magyar has had a chance to lie in a bit longer today.

Earlier this morning, he thanked the voters once again on his Facebook, saying:

“Thanks to every Hungarian at home and across the world!

It is a huge honour that you have empowered us with the most votes ever to form a government and to work for a free, European, well-functioning and compassionate Hungary over the next four years. The Tisza government will be the government of every Hungarian person.”

Meanwhile, the Slovak prime minister Robert Fico and the Czech prime minister Andrej Babiš, two close political allies of Viktor Orbán, congratulated Peter Magyar on his win in yesterday’s election.

Fico, who worked closely with Orbán as they repeatedly clashed with Ukraine together over the issue of Russian energy imports, said on Facebook he was “ready for intensive cooperation with the new Hungarian prime minister,” while he also expressed his “gratitude” to the ousted prime minister.

Babiš said Magyar “must not disappoint”, and pledged to “always work constructively with whoever voters choose”.

“Facing such a strong opponent as Viktor Orbán was never easy, yet [Magyar] earned the trust of the majority of Hungarians and carries great hopes and expectations,” he noted.

Speaking at a press conference in Berlin, German chancellor Friedrich Merz praised Péter Magyar’s win over Viktor Orbán as “a good day,” sending “a very clear signal against right-wing populism.”

“Hungary has sent a very clear signal against right-wing populism across the whole world. In that respect, [yesterday Sunday’s election day] was... a good day,” Merz said in comments reported by Reuters.

He said that decision-making process in the EU, including on things to do with Russia, should get easier as a result of the vote.

He also praised the resilience of the Hungarian society against attempts to interfere with the vote.

“This [win] demonstrates that our democratic societies are evidently much more resilient against Russian propaganda and further external interference in such elections,” said Merz.

(No prizes for guessing what other “further external interference” he might have been thinking of there, just days after JD Vance’s not-so-subtle visit to Budapest…)

Good morning from Budapest, as the city reluctantly and not without some difficulties wakes up from the celebrations the night before, which went on to 5am and beyond.

With 98.94% of votes counted, Péter Magyar’s Tisza party is projected to get 138 seats in the new parliament, with just 55 for Viktor Orbán’s Fidesz and six for the far-right Mi Hazank (Our Homeland) party.

These numbers mean that the new government will have the critical two-thirds majority (133 or more seats) required to comprehensively overhaul the country’s laws, creating a real chance to genuinely break with the Orbán era.

Or, as András Bíró-Nagy of Policy Solutions put it to me,

“Because if [they have] the constitutional super-majority, this is when he can do a change of regime, and not only a change of government … then dismantling the Orbán regime is really possible, meaning that both the economic and the political capture of the [Orbán] regime could be adressed with the two-thirds majority.”

We are going to hear from Magyar again today as he is expected to give a press conference to offer a more detailed reaction to the vote and talk about his plans for the new administration.

Separately, we should also hear from the team of international observers who monitored the vote as they present their early findings.

And, well, we are still waiting for any reaction from the White House. Donald Trump and JD Vance had so much to say about the election before it happened, but are uncharacteristically quiet since last night.

It’s Monday, 13 April 2026, it’s Jakub Krupa here, and this is Europe Live.

Good morning.