Peter Magyar’s Tisza wins Hungary election as Viktor Orban concedes

Hungary’s longtime Prime Minister Viktor Orban has conceded defeat in the country’s parliamentary election after partial official results showed Peter Magyar’s Tisza party winning a landslide victory.

“Prime Minister Viktor Orban just called to congratulate us on our victory,” Magyar posted on social media Sunday, as his party stood at 52.49 percent and Orban’s Fidesz at 38.83 percent, with 53.45 percent of precincts counted.

“Thank you, Hungary!” Magyar posted on X.

Reporting from the banks of the Danube River in the capital, Budapest, where Magyar’s supporters had gathered, Al Jazeera’s Step Vaessen described scenes of jubilation.

“What an evening here,” she said. “It’s all over for Viktor Orban after 16 years. They can barely believe it, but it’s absolutely happening.”

For his part, Orban told his followers that he had “congratulated the victorious party” after a “painful” but “clear” result.

“The ⁠responsibility and possibility ⁠of governing was not given to us,” he said. “We are going to serve the Hungarian nation and our homeland from opposition as well.”

The partial count showed Tisza ahead in 95 of Hungary’s 106 constituencies, with the party projected to win more than 130 mandates in the 199-seat parliament.

Vaessen said “the comfortable two-thirds majority” that Magyar’s party was projected to win was “very important”, as it would allow it to amend Hungary’s constitution.

The National Election Office said turnout by 6:30pm (16:30 GMT) was more than 77 percent, a record number in any election in Hungary’s post-Communist history.