This thread is about the April 2026 Hungarian elections and what comes afterward.
Will the opposition Tisza Party defeat Fidesz, the incumbent party?
If he loses, will Fidesz’s authoritarian leader Viktor Orbán accept the results of the election?
If the opposition wins, will it be able to dismantle Orbán’s “illiberal” state?
Apparently high turnout, but no results for some time. Last opinion polls suggest a victory for Tisza, possibly enough to overturn some of Orban’s constitutional jiggery-pokery, but that assumes there’s been no tampering with the electoral process
First partial results have started to come in, but shouldn’t be taken too seriously. There are no exit polls. Guardian has a live page:
Mark your planner. Maybe return to this in 6 hours.
Overview of Hungary by Paul Krugman:
It’s a little odd that Hungary is so much the focus of a lot of people, myself included. It has about the same population as New Jersey, about a quarter of New Jersey’s GDP.
It’s not a big place, but it’s symbolic. It is a role model for right-wing authoritarians everywhere. It still formally has the institutions of democracy, but has for the past 16 years been a one party state — ruled by a right-wing authoritarian ethno-nationalist regime that enforces its will partly by rigging elections, partly through an extensive system of crony capitalism that rewards its friends and punishes its enemies.
In other words, it’s a MAGA kind of place. It’s what they would like to do to the United States, although with less sophistication and more brutality.
If the forces of democracy win this battle, it will be reasons to cheer.
My understanding is that Orban did everything he could to rig this election, including packing Hungary’s courts with loyalists, should any election results be contested in the courts. It was all very much in the style of what Trump is trying to do. In fact JD Vance went over to Hungary recently to visit Orban and learn more about how it was done. So yes, if the opposition topples Orban, it will be a major victory for democracy.
Showing a level of grace that Trump could never hope to have, Viktor Orban has apparently conceded the election, according to The Guardian. (ETA: and confirmed by CNN.)
This is fabulous news. I’m so happy for Hungary and the world.
Am I getting a bit ahead of things to see this as perhaps the beginning of a swing back away from the global autocratic swing?
That’d be wonderful. Can we be next? Please?
Man, between stumping for Orban and negotiating with Iran, Vance is batting .000…
I wonder if that was expected by Trump’s inner circle, so they sent someone that they wouldn’t mind discrediting?
I didn’t expect Orbán to concede!
The most relevant precedent in the region is the 2023 defeat of the illiberal right-wing government in Poland. The road back to liberal democracy there has been rocky. Here’s hoping it goes more smoothly in Hungary!
Will Orban be calling someone for 11,000 votes to be found?
JD Vance went over to Hungary for lessons in how to dismantle democracy and establish a dictatorship. I hope the lesson he and the Orange Master have now learned is that when you lose an election, have the decency and good grace to concede the loss. Maybe Vance will be so despondent over recent events that he’ll decide on an image make-over and shave off that pretentious, pathetic ugly beard.
You probably are. The world won’t be safe until the same thing happens to Trump, Trumpists, and MAGA.
That’s because he lost by a 2-to-1 margin.
The reason Trump almost got away with it in 2020 was because it was such a narrow margin - but you can’t argue with a landslide. I mean, you can, but everyone will just ignore you. Even authoritarians know that.
Trump is unlike most democratic leaders in that he doesn’t care about his party, or his personal reputation. So I think we can rule out decency and good grace.
I fervently hope that Vance keeps his beard and corresponding lack of charisma. Also, the problem with appointing lickspittles is that you tar their future in one way or another. Again, Trump doesn’t care about such things, but friends of democracy should rejoice that Rubio’s lack of mettle is consistently near front and center.
Oh yeah, Hungary. NYT:
With 66 percent of votes counted, Mr. Magyar’s opposition party was on course to win 137 seats — more than a two-thirds majority. Mr. Orban’s party, Fidesz, was expected to win just 55.
The opposition to Orban stressed the economy and corruption, and linked the 2 issues. If the Dems take even one house this year, there will be plenty to discuss about Republican corruption in 2028.
Taking down one world leader who supports Putin is great news for supporters of democracy.
The beard is the one thing I like about him - it makes him look like he’s living in 2026 and not in the 20th Century.
Although, with suspenders and a wide-brimmed black hat, he’d look like 1826…
Or, in the 19th.
And clean-shaven men look like they’re from 1780:
Fashion is cyclical, and we’re living in a bearded period now. I’m 51 and most guys younger than me I see have beards. As do I.
withdrawn
Maybe, but consider what is the same thing is.
Hungary has a parliamentary system, but to give an idea of what the same thing might roughly look like:
Vance defeats AOC in 2028.
Thinking to have learned their lesson, the Democrats nominate Josh Shapiro in 2032 – and lose again.
Seeing Shapiro still wasn’t moderate enough, the 2036 Democrats nominate some younger version of Joe Manchin – named Joe America – and finally get their landslide.
Beards grey over time, but they cover up aging and doughy skin pretty well. Beard trimmer innovation has also encouraged furrier faces.
Bluesky thread on Bejing losing its best friend in Europe:
Hungary used its veto to shield China from various EU measures.
Foreign minister designate Anita Orban, in February, questioned the merits of her namesake’s pro-China approach, saying Tisza would pursue a “more pragmatic” policy. “Chinese companies investing in our country bring the production lines and often even building materials from China, which contribute to the growing lack of foreign trade in Hungary,” she wrote on Facebook. “The end result is that a significant part of the investments worth billions is flowing immediately back to China, instead of enriching our country,” Anita Orban continued, pointing to the fact that 1.6% of exports went to China in 2010, compared to 1.1% in 2025.
Chinese/Hungary infrastructure deals were opaque. Corruption goes hand in hand with democratic decline. Hungarians should expect revelations.