Viktor Orbán, the Hungarian prime minister since 2010, conceded to Péter Magyar in what he reportedly called a “painful” election on Sunday.
Magyar’s party led with 52% to 38% for Orbán’s party, with 60% of the vote counted, according to the Associated Press.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has called Orbán a “warm” supporter of the Jewish state, and the Austrian politician has met and spoken several times with Netanyahu and with U.S. President Donald Trump.
In April 2025, Orbán gave Netanyahu a royal welcome in Hungary despite an arrest warrant that the International Criminal Court issued ofr the Israeli prime minister. Orbán subsequently said that his country was withdrawing from the court, an independent judicial body in The Hague that is not part of the United Nations.
Netanyahu said at the time that Orbán had “done remarkable things for Israel and the Jewish people.”
“You support Israel proudly, unstintingly, you stand with us at the European Union, you stand with us at the United Nations, and you’ve just taken a bold and principled position on the ICC. I thank you, Viktor,” Netanyahu said. “This is not only important for us, it’s important for all democracies. It’s important to stand up to this corrupt organization that has equated a democracy that is challenged for its very existence by the most horrific terrorist powers on earth.”
The AP reported on Sunday that by 6:30 p.m. local time, Hungary had set a record of 77% voter turnout—the most “in any election in Hungary’s post-Communist history,” according to the National Election Office.
On April 10, Trump stated that his administration “stands ready to use the full economic might of the United States to strengthen Hungary’s economy, as we have done for our great allies in the past, if Prime Minister Viktor Orbán and the Hungarian people ever need it.”
“We are excited to invest in the future prosperity that will be generated by Orbán’s continued leadership,” Trump said at the time.
U.S. Vice President JD Vance also campaigned for Orbán.
Giorgia Meloni, the Italian prime minister, stated in Italian that her government wishes Magyar good luck after his “clear electoral victory.”
“I thank my friend Viktor Orbán for the intense collaboration of these years, and I know that even from the opposition, he will continue to serve his nation,” she stated. “Italy and Hungary are nations bound by a deep bond of friendship, and I am certain that we will continue to collaborate in a constructive spirit in the interest of our peoples and the common challenges at the European and international level.”
On Feb. 16, Orbán said a press conference alongside U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio in Budapest that a “new golden age has set upon us concerning the relationship between the United States and Hungary.”
“We operate with understatements in the Hungarian language and Hungarian politics, but the situation is that I cannot remember—although for 30-odd years I have been present in politics—when the last time it was that the relationships between the two nations were at such a high level, so balanced and so friendly. So, my heartfelt thanks goes to President Trump,” Orbán said at the time.
“Perhaps the last time we were near this, when President Bush visited us prior to the change of the political regime, which visit greatly contributed to us doing away with the communists and the Warsaw Pact,” he added. “Since then, we had better and worse periods in the U.S.-Hungarian relationships, but we’ve never been to this high a level.”
Some Democrats, including former first lady and former secretary of state Hillary Clinton, Sen. Raphael Warnock (D-Ga.) and Sen. Chris Coons (D-Del.) hailed Magyar’s election and Orbán’s defeat.
“A Christian nationalist strongman was just routed at the polls because of economic mismanagement, oppression and widespread corruption,” Coons stated. “Would-be autocrats around the world should take notice.”
Israeli opposition leader Yair Lapid stated in Hungarian that he congratulated Magyar and his party. “I hope that under your leadership, the relations between Israel and Hungary will continue to deepen and strengthen,” he said. “Best of luck.”
In September 2025, Magyar stated, in Hungarian, in a Rosh Hashanah message that “as a Christian, I regard the Jewish religion, which is thousands of years old, with deep respect.”
“I also hold in high esteem the Jewish community that has been connected to Hungary for many centuries, whose members have made significant contributions to our country’s development and prosperity,” he stated.
