Fears that there would be no peaceful transition of power dissipating when the incumbent conceded defeat rather soon after polls closed and results came in and congratulated his challenger in the incoming prime minister Pรฉter Magyar, Viktor Orbรกn and his Russian-aligned Fidesz party lost control of Hungary after a reign of sixteen years by a landslide with the voters turn-out the highest it had been since the fall of Communism in the early 1990s.
The victory of Magyar’s Tisza movement, possibly securing a supermajority in parliament, whilst still socially conservative, is seen as a rebuke to far-right parties in Europe and aims for greater integration into the EU and signals cooperation with EU priorities, including aid for Ukraine and mutual defence, economically, militarily and environmentally and away from the regressive policies of illiberal democracy. JD Vance’s Thursday night political stumping for Orbรกn did not translate to a positive outcome and may be a preview of what’s to come for MAGA in the States.