Hungary’s Prime Minister Viktor Orbán has conceded defeat after last week’s election saw his government swept from power.
The right-wing government had been in power for 16 years and during that time the government had become increasingly right-wing and authoritarian.
Orbán is seen as a key international ally of US President Donald Trump, and both the President and Vice-President J.D. Vance took part in his failed re-election campaign.
The opposition Tisza party, led by Péter Magyar is set to form government having won 138 of the 199 seats in the country’s parliament. The historic win saw people taking to the street of Budapest to celebrate.
Orbán first held the office of Prime Minister from 1998 until 2002, he was re-elected in 2010 and set about on his plan of creating what he described as an “illiberal nation”. Under his government there have been crackdowns on the media, universities and the judiciary. His government has also been accused of enabling rampant corruption.
The government had also brought in laws to stop Pride parades and threatened those who attended event that they would be tracked down through facial-recognition technology. Despite the threat over 100,000 people turned up to the 2025 Pride Parade in Budapest giving them their biggest ever turnout
In 2021 the government brough in laws banning “any content portraying or promoting sex reassignment or homosexuality” to minors.
