Preliminary results from the European Parliament elections in Europe show that Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban’s leading Fidesz party is ahead with a vote share of 44.2%. However, the results are lower than expected, possibly marking the worst performance in Orban’s 14-year governance.
With 84% of the votes counted, Fidesz’s vote share in this election is significantly below the 52% obtained in 2019 and also falls short of the pre-election polling estimate of 50%.
Orban’s main challenger, Peter Magyar, a former insider of the ruling party, has led the Tisza party to secure over 30% of the vote.
In the past 20 years, Fidesz has only once received a vote share of less than 50%, which was in 2004 with 47.4%. Based on the preliminary results, Orban is set to secure 11 seats in the European Parliament, while Magyar will gain 7 seats.
Peter Krekó, the executive director of the independent think tank “Political Capital,” remarked that Sunday’s results represent “a huge victory for Magyar and a massive failure for Fidesz.”
“Now, Fidesz has a genuine challenger,” Krekó stated.
Magyar, a former Fidesz member and the ex-husband of Hungary’s former Justice Minister Judit Varga, announced his candidacy earlier this year. He ignited voter enthusiasm by criticizing corruption and condemning the Orban regime.
He pledged to retrieve billions of frozen EU funds due to rule of law issues.
Following the announcement of the election results, Magyar declared, “This is the Waterloo of Orban’s power factory, the beginning of the end.”
In a post-election gathering in Budapest, Orban countered, “Today, two elections were held, and we won both.” He was referring to the local elections held in Hungary on the same day.
“In a challenging battle, we have achieved a significant victory,” Orban remarked.
The voter turnout in Hungary was notably high this time, with approximately 58.7% of the population casting their votes on Sunday, compared to the 43.4% turnout in the 2019 EU elections.