There is good news out of Hungary tonight:
Hungarian opposition ousts Viktor Orbán after 16 years in power
— The Guardian (@theguardian.com) April 12, 2026 at 7:25 PM
Tisza at 137 seats, 4 clear of a supermajority, with 2/3 of the constituency votes counted.
— Leonardo Carella (@leonardocarella.bsky.social) April 12, 2026 at 3:46 PM
From The Guardian:
Hungary’s opposition Tisza party, led by Péter Magyar, has won the election, bringing an end to Viktor Orbán’s 16-year grip on power, in a result that is likely to rattle the White House and reshape the country’s relationship with the EU.
Less than three hours after polls closed on Sunday, Orbán conceded defeat after what he described as a “painful but unambiguous” election result.
“I congratulated the victorious party,” the rightwing populist told supporters in Budapest. “We are going to serve the Hungarian nation and our homeland from opposition as well.”
With 98.74% of the vote counted, Magyar’s Tisza party was projected to have won 138 of the 199 seats in the country’s parliament, giving them a super-majority capable of amending the constitution and key laws, suggesting they would be able to reverse some of the changes made by Orbán and Fidesz, and potentially unlock EU funds.
Fidesz won 55 seats, while the extreme-right Mi Hazánk party won six.
Magyar, who pledged to repair Hungary’s strained relationship with the EU, crack down on corruption and funnel funds towards long-neglected public services, said Tisza voters had rewritten Hungarian history.
“My fellow Hungarians, we have done it!,” he told the tens of thousands of jubilant supporters who had gathered along the banks of the Danube river to celebrate.
“Tonight, truth prevailed over lies,” said Magyar, 45. “Today, we won because Hungarians didn’t ask what their homeland could do for them – they asked what they could do for their homeland. You found the answer. And you followed through.”
Now allow me to harsh your mellows.
The election was the easy part.
Magyar and his supermajority are facing the following situation:
One foundation, Mathias Corvinus Collegium (MCC) was handed $1.7 billion in government money and asset to train conservatives and create programming for primary and secondary education. Even if Orban loses elections, his loyalists will remain. Advisory board members appointed by Orban were given lifetime positions, and they are the only ones who can select new members. This is a basic form of cronyism, a bribe to retain power. Orban appointed Balazs Orban (no relation), to lead the MCC even as he served as state secretary in the prime minister’s office.
The Lesser Orban serves as an ambassador to far-right academics and think tanks, such as the Heritage Foundation.
All of the above type of appointments, whether political, judicial, educational, etc, will have to be deemed illegal & dismantled. Right now everything – government, politics, society, religion, education, the rule of law, the news media, the popular media, etc – in Hungary has been pushed hard to the hard right in service of keeping Orban in power or allowing him to subvert the Hungarian government and Hungarian society if he loses. What Magyar and his new government face is a matter of will X political power X time. Magyar’s victory speech was excellent, sounding just the right notes on accountability and demanding for all of Orban’s appointee, including the judicial ones, to resign immediately rather than wait to be fired. I expect the former will not happen and the latter will be contested. The issue for Magyar and his super majority will not be will or political power, it will be time. And time is not on his side as we saw with how Trump & his trusted aides, surrogates, & fellow travelers were able to subvert the American politics, society, news media, etc during the Biden interregnum and have worked diligently to both set the conditions to never lose power and to undermine and fail anyone who should remove them so as to come back to power as soon as possible.
Musk has already weighed in on Orban’s defeat in a highly antisemitic manner. Expect that he’ll be one of the ultra-high net worth individuals who will start picking up the tab for the attempt to fail Magyar’s government and to continue to subvert Hungary and use it to subvert the EU.
Just as was the case with Bibi when he temporarily was voted out of power, I will not be surprised if Orban is back in power within twelve to eighteen months.
As expected the Easter ceasefire is just a Kremlin PR operation.
The Ukrainian military says there were 2,299 ceasefire violations by Russia between 1600 yesterday and 0700 today – all in frontline areas. No strikes by missiles, guided aerial bombs, or “Shaheds” were recorded.
— Euan MacDonald (@euanmacdonald.bsky.social) April 12, 2026 at 3:47 AM
Fascist Russia simply shut down its air operations to give the illusion of a ceasefire – no drone on missile strikes on residential buildings, schools, hospitals, churches or critical civilian infrastructure, but attempts to gain positional advantages along the front.
— Euan MacDonald (@euanmacdonald.bsky.social) April 12, 2026 at 3:52 AM
❗️The Russian used the “Easter Truce” only in advantageous areas to improve their positions, – DeepState.
They used the silence to evacuate the wounded, bring in new ammunition or organize rotation.
The Russians are sending groups with white flags to carry out reinforcement measures.
— The Ukrainian Review (@theukrainianreview.bsky.social) April 12, 2026 at 4:35 PM
Here is President Zelenskyy’s Easter address from earlier today. Video below, English transcript after the jump.
War for Ukraine Day 1,508: Necessary But Not SufficientPost + Comments (14)
