Tisza Party Secures Supermajority, Ousts Orban After 16 Years

Hungarian voters delivered a resounding defeat to longtime Prime Minister Viktor Orban on Sunday, handing his challenger Peter Magyar and the Tisza Party a supermajority in parliament and ending Orban's 16-year rule. The elections, held across the country with record turnout exceeding 79 percent, marked a pivotal shift toward a more pro-European Union stance, as preliminary results showed Tisza securing 138 seats in the 199-seat legislature.

Orban, 62, conceded the loss late Sunday evening from Fidesz party headquarters in Budapest, describing the outcome as "clear and painful" while thanking the estimated 2.5 million supporters who voted for his party. He pledged that Fidesz would continue serving the nation from opposition, though he will remain in a caretaker role until a new government forms. Outside the headquarters, some supporters wept as they watched his speech on screens.

Magyar, 45, a former insider who broke from the establishment to launch Tisza two years ago, addressed tens of thousands of jubilant backers along Budapest's Danube River embankment. "We did it. Tisza and Hungary have won this election," he declared, as crowds danced to Frank Sinatra's "My Way" and...