Hungary’s Orban, beacon to the right, concedes election defeat.

By ANDREW HIGGINS and LILI RUTAI

Prime Minister Viktor Orban of Hungary, a lodestar for MAGA culture warriors and right-wing populists in Europe, conceded defeat Sunday in a general election, breaking the momentum of a global nationalist revival promoted by President Donald Trump.

Speaking to supporters Sunday evening in Budapest, Orban said the “election results, although not complete, are understandable and clear. They are painful for us but unequivocal.”

He congratulated the opposition, saying: “The responsibility and opportunity to govern were not given to us.”

But, he vowed in his surprisingly early concession speech: “We are not giving up. Never, never, never.”

Sunday’s vote was widely seen as showdown between friends and foes of liberal democracy, a cause that Orban has battled against for years to applause from his fans in the United States, Europe and Latin America. It was closely watched by the Trump administration and the Kremlin, both of which wanted Orban to win and both of which offered support in his campaign.

With 66% of votes counted, the opposition Tisza party was on course to win 137 seats — more than a two-thirds majority — with Orban’s party, Fidesz, expected to win just 55. The opposition leader is a former Orban loyalist, Peter Magyar, who broke away in 2024.

Shortly before polls closed, the electoral authorities said that more than 77% of registered voters had cast ballots, the highest turnout in a Hungarian election since the collapse of Communism in 1989 and the start of democracy.

“Hungary’s fate will be decided today, for a long time to come,” Magyar said early Sunday as he went to vote. He later noted that Election Day was the anniversary of a 2003 vote in favor of joining the European Union, a sign that he wanted to end the Orban government’s antagonism toward the bloc.

Orban, whose party won the four previous elections easily, acknowledged Sunday that he faced a very tight race that could hinge on just a few votes. Casting the vote as a choice between peace and war, as he has throughout the campaign, he appealed to supporters on Facebook.