Orban concedes defeat after 16 years in power: As it happened
Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban has called opposition leader Peter Magyar and congratulated his Tisza party on its election victory. At the time of the call, Tisza was leading Orban’s Fidesz party by 52% to 39% of the vote.
Magyar dominated pre-election polling, after campaigning on corruption, public services, and restoring ties with the EU. His victory determines not only who governs Hungary, but also how far Budapest resists policy proposals coming from Brussels.
Orban has spent years frustrating the EU with his stance on Russia, sanctions, and military support for Ukraine, making this election a closely watched test for Brussels as well as for Orban’s allies on the international right. Ukraine is also watching – and allegedly interfered in – the vote, as Orban is currently vetoing the EU’s planned €90 billion loan package for Kiev.
Data from Hungary’s National Election Office showed a record turnout of 77.8%, the highest in any election in Hungarian history.
Independent polling summarized by AP suggests Tisza entered election day with momentum, though the race was still expected to be tight because of Fidesz’s entrenched rural support and the advantages Orban enjoys from incumbency and Hungary’s electoral system.
Earlier, Magyar wrote off reports that he was planning to instigate post-election riots as “scare stories and lies," after a former Tisza party adviser released a document alleging that Magyar’s EU backers were urging him to declare victory prematurely, and start street-level violence modeled on the 2014 Maidan coup in Ukraine if the result doesn’t go his way.
LIVE UPDATES HAVE ENDED
12 April 2026
20:41 GMTResults are still coming in, and Magyar’s lead is widening. Right now, with more than 87% of votes counted, Tisza is leading Fidesz by 53.6% to 37.7%. As Magyar prepares to address his supporters, we’re closing our live updates and asking, what does this historic shift in power mean for Hungary, the EU, Russia, Ukraine, and the wider world?
Stick with RT in the coming days as we answer those questions.
- 20:21 GMT
Eva Vlaardingerbroek sums up the reaction from the (online) European right. “The last bastion is gone.”
“The Hungarians are about to learn the true meaning of ‘you don’t know what you’ve got ‘til it’s gone’. And the rest of us in Europe have just lost our only real stronghold against the EU.”
Looks like the last bastion is gone.The Hungarians are about to learn the true meaning of “you don’t know what you’ve got ’til it’s gone.” And the rest of us in Europe have just lost our only real stronghold against the EU.Devastating. https://t.co/2jgk2dSBnS
— Eva Vlaardingerbroek (@EvaVlaar) April 12, 2026Orban’s loss, she says, is “devastating.”
- 20:14 GMT
While it is far too early to predict exactly what a Tisza government will achieve, here’s opposition economist Krisztian Orban (no relation of the prime minister) warning that the “extensive growth” of the Orban years is over, and what follows will result in citizens paying a “price” for the tax cuts and giveaways of the Fidesz government. Austerity is on the way, if he is to be believed.
Krisztián Orbán, the principal expert of an intellectual circle surrounding Tisza party in Hungary was recently very open about their economic plans. Orbán-regime has missed all opportunities, so the period following Orbán's replacement will be when ordinary Hungarians will "pay… pic.twitter.com/VR1aE4cbxl
— Csaba Tóth 🇸🇴 (@tothcsabatibor) March 9, 2026 - 20:04 GMT
Tisza is on track to win a two-thirds majority, giving the party power to rewrite Hungary’s constitution and implement the changes that the EU has demanded in order to unlock €20 billion in frozen funding – namely judicial reforms.
If the results continue to favor Tisza, the party could win 136 seats, with Fidesz relegated to 56.
- 19:54 GMT
Orban has addressed the results, calling them “painful and clear.” The prime minister confirmed that he has “congratulated the winning party,” and that Fidesz will continue to work for its voters.
”What the result means for the fate of our country and the nation, and what its deeper or higher meaning is, we do not know now, time will decide,” he told supporters at a rally in Budapest. “No matter how it turns out, we, as opposition, will serve our country and the Hungarian nation.”
- 19:21 GMT
Orban has conceded defeat, and called to congratulate Magyar on Tisza’s victory, Magyar just announced on social media.
Prime Minister Viktor Orbán has just called to congratulate us on our victory.
— Magyar Péter (Ne féljetek) (@magyarpeterMP) April 12, 2026 - 19:20 GMT
Whatever the result, the government is “pleased that the democratic mandate of the next National Assembly will be stronger than ever before due to the high turnout,” Gergely Gulyas, the Minister of the Prime Minister’s Office, told reporters earlier. The final turnout figure of 77.8% is the largest in any Hungarian election in history.
- 19:13 GMT
Magyar is leading in all 16 Budapest constituencies, plus every suburban district of Pest County surrounding the capital. No matter what the final results are, Magyar is guaranteed to have a large and friendly audience at his post-election rally.
- 18:53 GMT
Tisza has broken 50% for the first time since counting began. With more than 29% of votes counted, Magyar’s party is leading Orban’s by 50.35% to 41.03%, putting the opposition on track to win a parliamentary majority.
- 18:30 GMT
About that document alleging a ‘Maidan’ plan by Peter Magyar? A similar document was circulated before elections in Georgia in 2024.
”Clearly saying that if the running party wins, they have to start these Maidan activities, and European leaders have to say the elections were rigged. They started it and they were well equipped to send out 2,000 men” to instigate violence, former Georgian MP Peter Mamradze tells RT.
Alleged doc outlines Maidan strategy for Hungarian elexSimilar 'doc was spread before elex in GeorgiaIt said: if ruling party wins, start Maidan activities, NGOs mobilize, European leaders declare elex rigged'Peter Mamradze, fmr Chief of Staff to Georgian presdent, to RT https://t.co/upBTgOzOrRpic.twitter.com/RQeobXuxrC
— RT (@RT_com) April 12, 2026The Georgian government stood firm and resisted the rioters in 2024. Magyar has dismissed claims that he’ll try his luck if he loses today.
