After 16 years in power, Hungary's Orbán concedes 'painful' election loss to rival Magyar

magyar undercoat government minister Viktor orbitán conceded licking on Sunday after what he called a "painful" election result, ending 16 years in power for a powerful figure in the far-right movement allied with U.S. President Donald Trump and Russian President Vladimir Putin.

"I congratulated the victorious party," Orbán told supporters in Budapest. "We are going to serve the Hungarian nation and our homeland from opposition as well."

Initial official results show opposition leader Péter Magyar's party dominating the election.

More to come

This is a breaking update. A previous version of this story can be read below.

Hungary's opposition Tisza party could win Sunday's national election, two surveys showed, delivering a landmark defeat ‌to veteran Prime Minister Viktor Orbán, an ally of Russia who also had the strong support of U.S. President Donald Trump.

The polls, the last ones conducted before voting started and published after polling stations had closed on Sunday, showed the upstart centre-right Tisza party of Magyar garnering 55-57 per cent support, ahead of Orbán's nationalist Fidesz party.

This could give Tisza 135 seats in the 199-member Hungarian legislature, pollster ​Median said. Pollster 21 Research Centre projected that Tisza could win 132 seats.

Some of ​these last-minute polls — conducted before an election but only published after voting ends — have proven accurate in Hungary in the past. There are no exit polls for Sunday's election.

"We have seen the fresh polls and based on the turnout data and information ​that we received we are optimistic," Magyar told a briefing.

However, Orbán's chief of staff Gergely Gulyas said Fidesz was confident ⁠of winning a majority after what ⁠he said had been a democratic vote.

Pollsters predicted a record voter turnout. €ŒData at about 5 p.m. Local time showed 74.23 per cent of voters had cast their votes, up from 62.92 per cent at the same time in the 2022 election. Hungarian television showed long queues outside some voting stations in Budapest.

Official results are due later on Sunday evening.

If the opinion poll findings prove accurate, Orbán's defeat after 16 years in power would have significant implications not only for Hungary but for the European Union, ⁠Ukraine and beyond.

It would likely spell an end to Hungary's adversarial role inside the EU, possibly opening the way for a 90-billion-euro ($145 billion Cdn) EU loan to war-battered Ukraine that Orban had blocked. It could also mean the eventual release of EU funds to Hungary that the bloc had suspended due to what Brussels ‌said was Orbán's erosion of democratic standards.

Orbán's exit would deprive Russian President Vladimir Putin of his main ally in the EU and send shockwaves through right-wing circles across the West, including Trump's White House.

In Hungary, a Tisza victory could open the way for reforms that the party says would aim to combat corruption and restore the independence of the judiciary and other institutions.

However, the extent of such reforms ​will depend on whether Tisza can secure the two-thirds constitutional majority it would need to reverse much of Orbán's legacy.

Orbán, a euroskeptic, carved out a model of a an "illiberal democracy" seen ⁠as a blueprint by Trump's Make America Great Again (MAGA) movement and its admirers in Europe.

But many Hungarians have grown increasingly weary of Orbán, 62, after ⁠three years of economic stagnation and soaring living costs as well as reports of oligarchs close to the government amassing more wealth.

Tisza's leader Magyar ⁠appears to ⁠have successfully tapped into this frustration.

Casting his vote for Tisza ​in the Hungarian capital, Mihaly Bacsi, 27, said the country needed change.

"We need an improvement in public mood, there is too much tension in many areas ​and the current government only fuels these sentiments," ⁠he said.

Another voter, who gave her name as Zsuzsa, said she wanted continuity.

"I would really like if all the results that have been achieved in recent years remain — and I am terribly afraid of the war," she said, referring to the conflict raging in Ukraine, Hungary's eastern neighbour.

Orbán sought to cast Sunday's election as a choice between "war and peace."

During campaigning, the government blanketed the country with signs warning that Magyar would drag Hungary into Russia's war with Ukraine, something he strongly denies.

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