In what appears to be a historic turnout, voters in Hungary ousted Viktor Orban!
This is great news for NATO and bad news for Trump and Putin, who lauded Orban as the future of Europe. MAGA loved Orban, who claimed to have created an “illiberal democracy.”
Orban was a European version of Trump, censoring or closing down anyone who disagreed with him. He harmed freedom of the press, universities, and the judiciary. He stridently opposed LGBT rights.
The victory of Peter Magyar, who seems to have won more than 2/3 of the seats in Parliament, means a new day for Hungary, NATO, and the European Union.
Diane Ravitch's blog 
I read a report that suggested that the EU will now allow Hungarian assets held due to Orban policies to go to Hungary
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What business does the EU have holding Hungarian assets because they don’t like Hungary’s leader? What if Trump decides to hold New York assets because he doesn’t like their leader? What if other countries decide to hold U.S. assets because they don’t like Trump? BTW, the correct term for “holding assets” that belong to someone else is stealing.
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You have an odd take on the definition of “stealing”, one that – of course – favors Kremlin power.
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So you think that holding assets that don’t belong to you against the will of the one they do belong to isn’t stealing, yet you accuse me of having an odd definition of stealing. So I take it you would be okay with it if Trump decided to hold your assets against your will.
Honestly, half the time I read this blog I think I must have stumbled into some parallel bizarro world.
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The historic part of this is the concession on the part of Orban. Do modern authoritarian rulers actually have to produce for the people they wish to dominate? Or is there another way to process what happened today? Is Hungary free of this Orban? Or will he return in some way? And what does Putin think?
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This is a major victory. JD Vance was just campaigning with Orban. Here in Sarasota, New College’s DeSantis appointed Board of Trustee, Chris Rufo, was a longtime fan and went to Hungary in 2023 to learn all about their “culture war policies.”
We are rejoicing greatly! This is fantastic news and brings us hope. Let’s keep the anti-fascist momentum growing and bring about a blue tidal wave in November.
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The trustees of New College must be in mourning.
Fascism is out of fashion.
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“TOO MANY PEOPLE ARE VOTING!!!” — That’s what Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban complained as he went down to defeat in Hungary’s elections, in spite of the unusual direct support he received in a visit by U.S. Vice President Vance and a public phone call from President Trump to a pro-Orban political rally crowd.
JUST THINK ABOUT THAT — “Too many people are voting” — and you understand why Trump and his MAGA Minions are working hard to disqualify as many American voters as they can. That’s because the more people who vote, the less likely MAGA candidates will be elected because MAGA is far less than the majority of Americans.
When the majority of Americans turn out to vote, MAGA loses.
So expect that Trump and his minions will be increasing their attempts to disqualify as many voters as possible between now and the November midterm elections, because if the majority of Americans can vote, Trump’s minions in Congress and in state governments will be kicked out of office.
IF THE DEMOCRATIC PARTY DOES ANY ONE THING between now and November, it must be to defeat all MAGA efforts to disqualify Americans from voting BECAUSE THE KEY TO DEMOCRATS WINNING IS HIGH VOTER TURNOUT — and THAT’S why Republicans are trying every way they can to prevent voters from voting which means that YOU CAN COUNT ON ICE BEING AT OR NEAR POLLING PLACES to intimidate voters.
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JD Vance gives the Kiss of Death.
First to Pope Francis, now to Orban.
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Yeah, so this was a huge win in Hungary. I thought, I’d have to wait for the results for days, and even if the opposition (Tisza party) wins, Orbán will challenge it. But the win is completely overwhelming, and Tisza got well over 2/3 majority in Congress, which means they can roll back many of the changes Orbán made to the Constitution (gerrymandering, changes to the Supreme Court, etc.) to benefit his party. Orbán quickly, unceremoniously congratulated to Magyar, the opposition leader.
Many expected the small towns and villages will all vote for Orbán, but that was not the case at all.
To see the extent of the win, I show here the almost final election map. Blue is for Tisza, the opposition party (though it’s not a leftist party, at least not by European standards).
I hope for a similar color pattern here in the US in November. The above map is the result of Hungarians fighting back the influence of US and Russian administrations and propaganda, and Hungarians finally understood that they belong to Europe. Europe did cheer them on tonight.
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Mate,
I am so happy for Hungary and for Europe and for you! Now you can retire to Hungary knowing that it’s not slipping into Putin’s orbit.
Europe is united, and it will help Ukraine prevail over Russia.
How exciting to see your small nation rebuke both Trump and Putin.
Diane
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Thanks, Diane. I’ll keep an eye on the US midterm elections in November, and will certainly vote—hopefully mail-in vote will be allowed…
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I know you are excited. Perhaps now the Hungarian march toward representation can be resumed, as can ours.
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Hurrah, hurrah, hurrah, finally some good news. Thank goodness Orban did not resort to Putinistic methods, such as jailing or killing his political opponent.
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Roy,
I am not familiar with the issue so o asked Chat GPT:
Yes — the European Union has withheld (and in some cases frozen) significant funds from Hungary in recent years.
Why the EU withheld funds
The dispute centers on concerns about:
• Rule of law issues (judicial independence, corruption risks)
• Public procurement transparency
• Academic and media freedom
These concerns have been raised repeatedly about the government of Viktor Orbán.
What funds were affected
• Around €20+ billion in cohesion funds and COVID recovery money were blocked or suspended starting in 2022–2023.
• This included money from the EU’s pandemic recovery program (NextGenerationEU).
Has any money been released?
Yes, partially:
• In late 2023, the EU unlocked about €10 billion after Hungary passed some judicial reforms.
• However, billions remain frozen because the EU says reforms are still incomplete.
Why this matters
• The EU uses funding conditions as leverage to enforce its legal and democratic standards.
• Hungary argues the EU is applying political pressure, while the EU says it is enforcing agreed rules.
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Maybe, because as Europe watches how Trump had F***ED up the U.S., they’re, learning things, and they stopped having to make the mistakes themselves, to SAVE their individual countries from totalitarian rule whom they put into, office.
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Did a little further reading and discovered that Magyar was a leader in Orban’s party until two years ago, was married to Orban’s justice minister and idolized Orban himself. He apparently had a come-to-Jesus moment two years ago, but that raises the question of exactly what’s behind the apparent split. Did Magyar really repent of everything he’d believed his whole life? Was the split just a personal falling out between the two? Or, what I think is most likely, was the alleged split faked when Orban realized he wouldn’t survive another election no matter how he engineered it? The proof will be in the pudding and I admit I could be wrong, but I would advise the Hungarian people not to count any chickens just yet.
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How upsetting it must be to see the Hungarian people reject both Trump and Putin, then chanting “Russians, go home!”
Magyar campaigned on returning Hungary to Europe. That was a powerful message.
Orban told Putin he would do whatever he asked, and called himself a “mouse,” compared to Putin, whom he described as a “lion.”
And Hungarians chanted “Russians, go home!”
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Not one word of which has anything to do with anything I said. How unusual.
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Magyar on Ukraine:
“We cannot tell any country to give up territory. If they do, they are a traitor… What would you do if Russia attacked Hungary? Which counties would you be willing to give up? …They [international community] should give security guarantees.”
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Still not relevant to anything I said.
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You are sad that Putin lost!
That’s relevant.
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Magyar says, that Orbán’s Russia connection will be investigated.
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Magyar’s loudest, super focused message was “the kleptocracy needs to stop”. The corruption in Hungary has become truly outrageous and unmanageable in the last four years, the economy has stopped growing, and even had a 25% inflation couple of years ago, while Orbán was running around the world, from dictator to dictator, spending tax-money on CPAC meetings he organized in Hungary so that he could show to the home crowd how he is adored by the far right and strongmen. Orbán was living in a very costly bubble, surrounding himself with yes-men.
Magyar’s message focused on what the common issue was for the majority of Hungarians, and this psyched up the country so much that almost 80% went to vote on Sunday. Imagine 200 million people voting in the US!
For more than a year, Magyar also went from village to village, every day to 6 different ones, talking to people personally, listening to them. No, he didn’t use means of propaganda, just his own self, with only a driver and him in a car.
Yeah, his political conviction is on the right, so I could easily come up with issues I’d disagree with him. But what’s urgent for Hungary has nothing to do with political sides, similarly to stopping Trump before he destroys the World has nothing to do with political sides.
Magyar seems to be focusing on building a team of very solid experts in their fields, like an orthopedic surgeon who will likely lead health care, and who moved back from the UK with his family after 20 years there.
Magyar will take action against state propaganda, and already told state media that they will be fired, and will be replaced by organizations which deliver real news, with all sides heard. Those who got rich on taxpayers and EU money will be held accountable.
Yeah, one can come up with conspiracy theories about what Magyar’s real intentions are. Would it be useful to waste energy on fantasizing about those?
Or perhaps it’s better to let myself be energized by seeing the crowd all over this small country, where even the fall of Communism in 1989 didn’t induce this much electricity.
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In general, IMO it’s a mistake to be suspicious about the real intentions of a politician. It’s what the people want is important, the will of so called “leaders” shouldn’t matter. In truly developed democracies, politicians serve the people, not lead them. I am hoping, Hungary will be served, not led by Magyar and his team.
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I believe I read that 80% of Hungarian voters voted in this election.
In the Illinois Primary held several weeks ago, 27% of eligible Chicago voters voted.
Speaks volumes.
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The total population of Hungary is 9.5 million, and almost 6 million voted.
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Thank you, Mate. Then the correct %age is 63.2%.
SO much better than #s here!
C’mon, guys, we CAN do it…
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No, because almost 80% of the voting age population participated. Out of the 9.5 million, about 2 million are under 18. To get the 80% voter participation, divide 6 million by 7.5 million, which is 0.8.
In the US, the voting age population is about 250 million, and 80% of that is 200 million. At the last elections, 160 million people voted which is 64% participation.
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