Speaking at a press conference in Berlin, German chancellor Friedrich Merz praised Péter Magyar’s win over Viktor Orbán as “a good day,” sending “a very clear signal against right-wing populism.”
“Hungary has sent a very clear signal against right-wing populism across the whole world. In that respect, [yesterday Sunday’s election day] was… a good day,” Merz said in comments reported by Reuters.
He said that decision-making process in the EU, including on things to do with Russia, should get easier as a result of the vote.
He also praised the resilience of the Hungarian society against attempts to interfere with the vote.
“This [win] demonstrates that our democratic societies are evidently much more resilient against Russian propaganda and further external interference in such elections,” said Merz.
(No prizes for guessing what other “further external interference” he was thinking of here, just days after JD Vance’s visit to Budapest…)
Good morning from Budapest, as the city reluctantly and not without some difficulties wakes up from the celebrations the night before, which went on to 5am and beyond.
With 98.94% of votes counted, Péter Magyar’s Tisza party is projected to get 138 seats in the new parliament, with just 55 for Viktor Orbán’s Fidesz and six for the far-right Mi Hazank (Our Homeland) party.
These numbers mean that the new government will have the critical two-thirds majority (133 or more seats) required to comprehensively overhaul the country’s laws, creating a real chance to genuinely break with the Orbán era.
Or, as András Bíró-Nagy of Policy Solutions put it to me,
“Because if [they have] the constitutional super-majority, this is when he can do a change of regime, and not only a change of government … then dismantling the Orbán regime is really possible, meaning that both the economic and the political capture of the [Orbán] regime could be adressed with the two-thirds majority.”
We are going to hear from Magyar again today as he is expected to give a press conference to offer a more detailed reaction to the vote and talk about his plans for the new administration.
Separately, we should also hear from the team of international observers who monitored the vote as they present their early findings.
And, well, we are still waiting for any reaction from the White House. Donald Trump and JD Vance had so much to say about the election before it happened, but are uncharacteristically quiet since last night.
It’s Monday, 13 April 2026, it’s Jakub Krupa here, and this is Europe Live.
Good morning.
Disclaimer : This story is auto aggregated by a computer programme and has not been created or edited by DOWNTHENEWS. Publisher: theguardian.com
