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Hungarians went to the polls on Sunday in an election that could end Fidesz Leader Viktor Orbán’s 16-year hold on power, which has rattled Russia and sent waves through far-right circles across the West, including in US President Donald Trump’s White House.
Orbán, a Eurosceptic nationalist activist, has carved out a model of “absent democracy” that is seen as a blueprint for Trump’s Make America Great Again (MAGA) movement and its likes in Europe.
But many Hungarians are growing weary of Orbán, 62, after three years of economic stagnation and rising living costs, and reports of oligarchs close to the government amassing more wealth.
Opinion polls showed Orbán’s Fidesz party trailing behind Peter Magyar’s centre-right opposition party Tisza has seven to nine percent, while Tisza has 38-41 percent.
Voting for the 199-seat parliament began at 6 a.m. local time and will close at 7 p.m.
Voting can bring the number of people who vote
Voting for Tisza in the Hungarian capital, Mihaly Bacsi, 27, said the country needs change.
“I think we need a change in the country. We need to improve the social situation, we are full of tension in many areas and the current government is exacerbating these feelings,” said Bacsi.
Voters said the election could bring record votes.
“It would be important for us to return to our commitment to the West, that is where Fidesz started long ago and it is possible that we will return to the way of the West without [Fidesz].”
The vote is being watched closely in Brussels, with many EU peers criticizing Orbán, a friend of Russian President Vladimir Putin and a close ally of Trump, for what they say is an undermining of Hungary’s democracy, press freedom and minority rights.
Hungarians are heading to the polls in historic parliamentary elections on Sunday that could end Prime Minister Viktor Orbán’s 16-year rule. Opinion polls suggest he and his nationalist Fidesz party will lose power to the centre-right, pro-European Union Tisza Party, led by former Orbán loyalist Péter Magyar.
For Hungary’s eastern neighbor Ukraine, the defeat of Orbán could mean the opening of a European Union loan of 90 billion euros to Kyiv’s war effort. It will also deprive Russia of its closest ally in the EU.
Orbán framed the election as a choice between “war and peace.” During the campaign, the government blanketed the country with signs warning that the Tisza Magyar leader would drag Hungary into a war with Russia and Ukraine, something he vehemently denies.
“I look forward to Sunday’s election with great hope,” Orbán told supporters in his hometown of Szekesfehervar.
“If we know ourselves well, if we know our country well and we know our people well, I must say that the Hungarian people will vote for security on Sunday,” he added.
Social discontent
Orbán has won public endorsements from the Trump administration – culminating in a visit to Budapest by Vice President JD Vance last week – as well as the Kremlin and far-right leaders in Europe.
But his campaign has been rocked by media reports that his government has colluded with Moscow. Orbán, who denies any wrongdoing, says his aim is to protect Hungarian citizenship and traditional Christian values within the EU and its security from a dangerous country.
Meanwhile, former Orbán supporter Magyar, 45, has come under fire over allegations of state corruption and deteriorating living standards, with young voters yearning for change.
Kriszta Tokes, a 24-year-old who sells postcards and trinkets in Budapest, said she was “very happy but also very scared.”
“I know my future depends on this,” she said, adding that she plans to leave Hungary if Orbán wins.
Although Orbán’s party has done good things “on paper,” Tokes said, referring to the large sums he has given to gain support, he believes young people are struggling more than the government realizes.
Orbán’s low popularity among the under-30s
To deal with a popularity rating of just eight percent for under-30s, Orbán scrapped income tax on young workers and introduced a subsidized mortgage program to help first-time buyers get into housing amid the EU’s steep rise in house prices under his regime.
But Magyar’s proposal for change seems more plausible.
At a final meeting in a village east of Miskolc on Friday, Magyar said: “This will be a referendum… about the place of our country and the future of our country.”
Analysts warn that the outcome of the vote remains uncertain, with many undecided voters, a redrawing of the electoral map in favor of Fidesz and a large number of ethnic Hungarians in neighboring countries, who strongly support the ruling party.
They say anything from a Tisza supermajority – which can change the constitution – to a Fidesz majority is possible.
If Tisza wins, reversing Orbán’s legal and institutional reforms could prove a difficult task for the new government if it has a simple majority in parliament.
