Orbán's Rule in Hungary Comes To An End

The Parliament Building in Budapest, Hungary. 

It felt like Viktor Orbán's time as a ruler was fast coming to an end in recent weeks, did it not? There were crowds assembled in Budapest (as well as neighboring Czechia), which felt a bit reminiscent of the fall of 1989, which was the last time that the world's attention was drawn by dramatic events in these two countries. There was just this seeming spirit of democracy which was refreshing to see. It felt like the country was ready for a change. 

Indeed it was. There was 77.8% voter turnout in the election. And the voters forced an end to the semi-dictatorial rule of Viktor Orbán. The opposition TISZA (EPP) party of Péter Magyar’s won decisively, securing 54% of the vote, enough to secure a two-thirds majority. That means they sweep into power with a landslide election win. 

Meanwhile, Viktor Orbán’s ruling FIDESZ (PfE) party received 38% of the vote, and secured just 27% of the seats in parliament. It was the first time since 2010 that Orbán’s parry did not win a majority since 2010, well over a decade-and-a-half ago. 

Given that Viktor Orbán was showing increasing signs of being an authoritarian ruler, this victory was regarded as a victory by pro-democracy supporters the world over. That includes opponents of MAGA in the United States, as prominent members of the Trump administration, from Kristi Noem to JD Vance to Trump himself, had lent their clear support to Orbán, although that did not help him. In fact, it might just have hurt him.

That does not mean that Hungary' problems are over.  

However, it does mean that they recognized his reign of power as a problem, and collectively took the first step to move in a different direction. 

It is yet another in an already long but still growing list of defeats for Team Trump. After all, Trump and his White House had gone to some lengths to try and help Orban out as much as possible. It is unclear whether that actually helped Orban, or possibly hurt him, given Trump's decided lack of popularity in Europe generally. At the very least, it was not enough to make the difference