After sixteen years in power, Hungary’s far-right authoritarian leader Viktor Orbán, has conceded defeat in the country’s federal election, losing to his Tisza Party opponent, Peter Magyar.
Overnight, citizens in the nation’s capital, Budapest, gathered to celebrate the end of what many considered an era of corruption, with tens of thousands of young Tisza supporters chanting “two-thirds”, referring to the expected two-thirds majority that Tisza will likely secure.
Almost all votes have now been counted, with Tisza set to win 138 seats, a safe majority in Hungary’s 199-seat legislature. The figures will likely mean that Magyar has the numbers to amend the controversial changes Orbán made to the constitution during his reign. It appears that the 62-year old’s political ties with US President Donald Trump and Russia’s autocratic President Vladimir Putin were not enough to get him over the line.
In his victory speech, the centre-right opposition leader Peter Magyar urged his predecessor to avoid taking any steps that would restrict the next government’s freedom to act.
He also urged a number of key political figures to step down, including the head of the high court, the chief prosecutor, the head of media authority and President Tamás Sulyok.
“I call on the President of the Republic to ask me without delay, as the leader of the winning party’s list, to form a government, and then to resign from his office,” Magyar said.
“With the two-thirds majority allowing us to amend the constitution, we will restore the system of checks and balances,” he continued, accusing the figures of capturing Hungary’s independent institutions for the past 16 years.
“We will join the European Public Prosecutor’s Office and guarantee the democratic functioning of our country. We will never again allow anyone to hold free Hungary captive or to abandon it.”
“Hungary will be a strong ally in the European Union and NATO again.”
Orbán’s critics are celebrating his loss. Among them, Hungary’s LGBTIQ+ community. During his reign, Orbán’s government attempted to ban the Budapest Pride march, made it illegal for same-sex couples to adopt children, removed the legal recognition of gender identity for transgender people and passed a law prohibiting the “portrayal or promotion” of homosexuality.
Human rights organisations, including Human Rights Watch, have slammed Orbán’s restrictions on LGBTQ rights and anti-immigration changes to Hungary’s constitution.
One young Hungarian spoke to SBS about the social impact of government messaging on LGBTQ+ people, in particular, the so-called “family-friendly Hungary” campaign.
“I would overhear conversations on the street, when a queer-looking person or a trans person would walk past, people would talk among themselves and say, ‘that’s quite strange, I thought that was illegal now, I thought they would ban that stuff’,” she said.
“It shows how people start internalising these messages.”
Women are also celebrating the end of Orbán’s leadership. Throughout his reign, Orbán’s government imposed a range of anti-feminist, pro-family policies and regulations, including removing Gender Studies degrees from accredited university programs, explicitly framing “gender ideology” as a threat and offering tax breaks to women who have multiple children to push a pro-natalist regime.
“His alleged “pro-family” policies actually reinforce traditional gender roles and undermine equality between men and women, reducing women to their reproductive function,” one researcher wrote in 2022.
Orbán’s populist politics have been described as having “a distinctly macho flavour”. Among the EU nations, Hungary is consistently ranked at the bottom of gender equality indicators. Last year, it came in second last on the European Institute for Gender Equality Index.
In 2023, a US-based study found that women who spoke out against Orbán’s government faced vicious misogynistic attacks online. Female politicians also faced disinformation that portrayed them as “untrustworthy” or “foreign agents” who were attempting to “destroy conservative norms.”
The study’s founder, Lucina Di Meco said a stronger gender dimension to digital legislation was required to protect women in politics.
“The study opened my eyes to how little we knew from women’s voices about the impact social media was having on them,” Di Meco said. “[Social media companies] want us to think that misogyny doesn’t have anything to do with them. It’s not their responsibility. This has just as much to do with misogyny as it does with the tools they created. They’re facilitating, incentivising and making money out of the spread of fake stories.”
On Sunday, European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen celebrated Orbán’s loss, writing on X, “Hungary has chosen Europe. Europe has always chosen Hungary. A country reclaims its European path.”
French President Emmanuel Macron also posted on X to congratulate Peter Magyar, saying his country “welcomes the victory of democratic participation, the Hungarian people’s commitment to the values of the European Union, and Hungary’s European commitment.”
“Let us move forward together toward a more sovereign Europe, for the security of our continent, our competitiveness, and our democracy.”
Meanwhile, German Chancellor Friedrich Merz offered the incoming leader to “join forces for a strong, secure and, above all, united Europe.”