Viktor Orbán conceded in Hungary. A 45-year-old took 138 of 199 seats in an election about Europe

Hungary's parliamentary election on April 12 produced the largest change of government in the country's politics since the transition. Orbán conceded within hours of the polls closing, describing the result as painful but clear, and congratulating Péter Magyar, leader of the centre-right, pro-EU Tisza party. Magyar said Orbán had called him.

The numbers are large because the seat system amplifies them. Tisza was projected on 138 of 199 seats once roughly 98.7 per cent of the vote was counted, a two-thirds supermajority; earlier estimates with 81.5 per cent counted put it at 137. Fidesz fell from 133 seats in 2022 to 55, with Mi Hazánk taking six.

1. 1.138 of 199 — the Tisza seat projection on near-complete results, a constitutional supermajority.
2. 2.55 — Fidesz's seats, down from 133 in 2022.
3. 3.6 — Mi Hazánk's seats.
4. 4.78-79 per cent — estimated turnout, described by officials as a record.
5. 5.3.3 million — votes Magyar said Tisza had received, which he called the highest any Hungarian party has polled.

Why that matters outside Hungary is the constitutional power. A two-thirds majority can amend the constitution without outside approval, and Orbán's Fidesz used exactly that lever to build the system Magyar's victory is now directed at. The Irish Times, reporting from Budapest, framed the result as the first step towards unpicking the state capture Fidesz constructed over 16 years; The Guardian noted the likely effect on Hungary's relationship with Brussels and on funds held at the bloc level.

The campaign was fought on geography as much as arithmetic. Magyar framed it as a choice between East and West and between honest public discourse and propaganda; Orbán countered that Tisza would drag Hungary into a war with Russia. Orbán's pitch leaned heavily on Russia's war in Ukraine, and on Zelenskyy in particular, and there were allegations of wiretapping and a disputed sex tape during the campaign. JD Vance, speaking earlier, said the Trump administration would work with whoever won and insisted Orbán would win the next election.

The response from European capitals was immediate. Ursula von der Leyen wrote that Hungary had chosen Europe and that the union was growing stronger. Emmanuel Macron and the prime ministers of Norway, Finland and Estonia and the presidents of Lithuania and Estonia all congratulated the result. The domestic consequence is a party that has never governed preparing to do so, with a constitutional majority, a pledged focus on corruption and public services, and an inherited set of adversarial relationships with most of its neighbours.