Hungarians vote in big numbers on whether to end Orbán rule and elect Magyar

# Hungarians vote in big numbers on whether to end Orbán rule and elect Magyar [Skip to content]( [Watch Live]( []( * [Home]( * [News]( * [Sport]( * [Business]( * [Technology]( * [Health]( * [Culture]( * [Arts]( * [Travel]( * [Earth]( * [Audio]( * [Video]( * [Live]( * [Documentaries]( [Home]( News [Sport]( Business Technology [Health]( Culture Arts Travel Earth Audio Video Live Documentaries [Weather]( [Newsletters]( [Watch Live]( # Hungarians vote in big numbers on whether to end Orbán rule and elect rival 49 minutes ago Share Save [Add as preferred on Google]( Paul Kirby Europe digital editor in Budapest Watch: How Hungary’s knife-edge election could impact the US and Russia Hungarians are going to the polls in large numbers, in a vote that could bring down Prime Minister Viktor Orbán after 16 years and have significant repercussions for the rest of Europe, the US and Russia. Most polls favour Péter Magyar, who formed a grassroots party, Tisza, after splitting from the ruling Fidesz party. After voting in Budapest, he said if he won he would bolster Hungary's position in the EU and Nato and move against corruption. Orbán told reporters after casting his ballot "I am here to win" and, when asked if he had underestimated his rival, said: "I don't underestimate anyone." Voting takes place until 19:00 (17:00 GMT) and results will start to come through in the evening. With six hours to go, a record 54.14% of the electorate had voted, a dramatic 14-point increase on four years ago and an indication that voters are far more mobilised this time round. Reuters Péter Magyar has promised a swift reversal of Orbán's anti-EU policies Orbán has claimed the opposition will "stop at nothing to seize power", but Magyar told reporters voters were being posed a choice between "East and West, propaganda or honest public discourse, corruption or clean public life". After 16 years of Orbán running Hungary with what the European Parliament termed a "hybrid regime of electoral autocracy", Magyar and his Tisza party are promising "a change of regime", a reset of relations with the EU and an end to close relations with Russia. A local civilian observer group, the Clean Voting Coalition, said it had received reports of irregularities including vote-buying and groups of voters were being taken to polling stations against the rules. Orbán remains highly valued by US President Donald Trump, who has called on Hungarians to "get out and vote" for his "true friend, fighter, and WINNER". Addressing supporters on Saturday night, the Fidesz leader insisted victory was still in reach and kept to his main campaign themes of targeting Brussels and Ukraine. "We don't give our children, we don't give our weapons and we don't give our money," he said. His message resonated with the crowd, who chanted "we won't let that happen". One supporter, Johanna, said she backed his policies on protecting the family and particularly on the war in Ukraine. Johanna (R) and her friend Veronika were optimistic Fidesz would win on Sunday He has proved to be a winner four times in a row, but a fifth consecutive victory may be beyond his reach. The economy is struggling, and he has been buffeted by a series of scandals, including revelations that Foreign Minister Péter Szijjártó regularly spoke to his Russian counterpart before and after European Union summits, which he has admitted. Hungary is not just in the EU, it is in Nato too, but Orbán has vetoed €90bn (£78bn) in aid to Ukraine, angering his European partners. EPA Viktor Orbán voted early on Sunday and said the campaign had been "a great national moment on our side" Hungary's three most reliable pollsters are all pointing to a "huge lead" for Magyar's Tisza party, says election specialist Róbert László at Budapest think tank Political Capital. Most analysts had assumed Fidesz would reduce that lead as the election drew closer, but he says that has not happened. Magyar has told voters they need not just an absolute majority of 100 seats in the 199-seat parliament, but a two-thirds super-majority, to wind back many of the constitutional changes that Fidesz made to the independence of the judiciary, ownership of the media, and many other walks of life. Hungary is repeatedly at the bottom of Transparency International's Corruption Perceptions Index in the EU. "The most likely scenario is that Tisza will have a comfortable, absolute majority, but not a two-thirds majority. But you can't exclude a two-thirds majority either," says László. In recent days, there have been figures from the police, military and business who have all spoken out against Fidesz, and László believes this is a sign that the public mood has turned against Orbán. Hungary has a complicated electoral system: * Of the 199 seats available, 106 are directly elected in constituencies * The other 93 go to party lists for which Hungarians abroad as well as at home are allowed to vote * In the constituency races, losing parties have their votes transferred to the national list * Winning parties have excess votes transferred too, and that has often benefited Fidesz * Parties need 5% of the national vote to get into parliament Viktor Orbán has admitted the electoral system has benefited his party. One of the few pollsters that suggests he can still win is Nézőpont Institute, which is seen as close to Fidesz. Its head, Ágoston Mráz, points to 22 so-called "battleground seats" out of the total 106 constituencies. If Fidesz were to win those seats, he foresees a potential victory. However, as 5% of the votes in those seats will not be counted immediately, it could take several days for the final result to become clear, he explains. Fidesz voters may not be as loud as their Tisza counterparts, he adds. "Conservative voters are not normally as enthusiastic or their self-confidence is probably limited. They are more hidden voters, they are not ready to answer questions of pollsters, and among the Fidesz voters there are more, in percentage, blue-collar voters than in the Tisza party voter camp." [## Péter Magyar, the former Orban ally vying for power in Hungary]( [## After 16 years in power, could Viktor Orban finally be unseated?]( [## Who is Viktor Orbán, Hungarian PM fighting to stay in power after 16 years?]( If Magyar is to win, Tisza will need to defeat Fidesz in some important towns and cities, not least Hungary's sixth-biggest city, Györ, close to the Slovak border in the north-west. Orbán himself put Györ on the campaign map last month when he noticeably lost his cool towards booing protesters and accused them of "pushing Ukrainian interests". Conversely, Magyar hosted a very large rally in a central square in Györ last Thursday. Gergely Németh, a 20-year-old student who said he was going to the square with his mother, explained that as a family they had struggled financially because of government policy. Although mothers with two or more children have increasingly become exempt from income tax under Orbán's pro-family policies, not everyone has benefited. Student Gergely Németh says all the young people he knows want Fidesz out Like many first-time voters who talked to the BBC, Németh said his main priority was defeating Fidesz: "I think it's not the man, Péter Magyar, who's most important. More important is that someone changes these politicians in the parliament." For the past two years Györ has had an independent mayor and deputy mayor, but Fidesz still has a majority on the local council. "I know what Fidesz brings, I know what Fidesz does, I live in it," says Deputy Mayor Roland Kósa, who speaks of an arrogance towards power. "When we got elected, what we faced even before and after is that Fidesz basically looked through us and said and thought we do not exist - this is still their city, this is still their country." Roland Kósa, deputy mayor in Győr, says Fidesz squandered huge sums and years of opportunity in his city Kósa believes that the right way to take on Fidesz has been by breaking out of party politics. Although Magyar forged his political career as a centre-right conservative under Orbán, he dramatically turned on his party two years ago, and now attracts voters from across the political spectrum. That has enabled voters who might not like him as a person to hold their noses in the knowledge that they are voting for a broad-based movement. Reuters At least 100,000 anti-Fidesz supporters filled Heroes' Square in Budapest on Friday evening Magyar made a conscious decision not to ally with other parties, choosing to create his Tisza party from the ground up, by creating "Tisza-islands" - often small groups of activists in a sea of Fidesz strongholds. It was not especially original, as Orbán did something similar by forming "citizen circles" during his years of opposition many years before. But those islands have formed the roots of a national movement and the backbone of his election campaign. Although other parties are running in the election, only Fidesz and Tisza have significant support His candidates are not politicians either: they feature surgical specialists, teachers, and business figures who know about their local communities and the problems in Hungarian healthcare and education. This is not a normal climax to a European election. The two leaders are not taking part in a televised election debate, instead it is being fought on social media and in town squares. Outwardly Fidesz officials say they remain confident of victory, although political chief Balázs Orbán suggested that if that happens the opposition will not accept defeat. Ágoston Mráz also voices concerns that Tisza voters will not accept an Orbán victory and will claim there has been election fraud: "I'm really afraid of getting violence on the streets because tension is in the air. I hope very much that every politician will be smart enough to help voters avoid violence on the street." There was no sign of violence when at least 100,000 Hungarians attended an anti-Fidesz concert in Heroes' Square on Friday night, and Magyar warned people "not to fall for any kind of provocation". [## Final push for votes as challenger to Hungary's Orbán senses victory]( [## Listen: The Global Jigsaw on The Battle for Hungary]( [## AI videos fuel rhetoric as Orbán bids for four more years in Hungary]( [## Hungary alleges plot to blow up gas pipeline ahead of election]( [Europe]( [Viktor Orban]( [European Union]( [Hungary]( * * * Related [## Final push for votes as challenger to Hungary's Orbán senses victory]( [## French man charged with locking son in van for more than a year]( [## German transgender far-right extremist arrested in Czech Republic]( * * * More from the BBC [10 hrs ago ## How Hungary's knife-edge election could impact the US and Russia The BBC's Europe Editor Katya Adler reports from Prime Minister Victor Orbán's home town of Felscút. 10 hrs ago]( [1 day ago ## Who is Viktor Orbán, Hungarian PM fighting to stay in power after 16 years? Since 2010, Orbán has transformed Hungary into what the European Parliament has denounced as a "hybrid regime of electoral autocracy". 1 day ago]( [1 day ago ## Péter Magyar, the former Orban ally vying for power in Hungary Magyar represents the biggest threat to Viktor Orban's rule in Hungary since he won the first of four consecutive victories in 2010. 1 day ago]( [5 days ago ## JD Vance backs Orbán's re-election bid in Budapest visit and hits out at EU US Vice-President JD Vance intervenes in the campaign to give Orbán a ringing endorsement in Budapest. 5 days ago]( [7 days ago ## Hungary alleges plot to blow up gas pipeline ahead of election It comes a week before votes are cast and follows warnings of so-called false flag operations blamed on Ukraine. 7 days ago]( * * * []( * [Home]( * [News]( * [Sport]( * [Business]( * [Technology]( * [Health]( * [Culture]( * [Arts]( * [Travel]( * [Earth]( * [Audio]( * [Video]( * [Live]( * [Documentaries]( * [Weather]( * [BBC Shop]( * [BritBox]( BBC in other languages ### The BBC is in multiple languages #### Read the BBC In your own language [Oduu Afaan Oromootiin]( [Amharic ዜና በአማርኛ]( [Arabic عربي]( [Azeri AZƏRBAYCAN]( [Bangla বাংলা]( [Burmese မြန်မာ]( [Chinese 中文网]( [Dari دری]( [French AFRIQUE]( [Hausa HAUSA]( [Hindi हिन्दी]( [Gaelic NAIDHEACHDAN]( [Gujarati ગુજરાતીમાં સમાચાર]( [Igbo AKỤKỌ N’IGBO]( [Indonesian INDONESIA]( [Japanese 日本語]( [Kinyarwanda GAHUZA]( [Kirundi KIRUNDI]( [Korean 한국어]( [Kyrgyz Кыргыз]( [Marathi मराठी]( [Nepali नेपाली]( [Noticias para hispanoparlantes]( [Pashto پښتو]( [Persian فارسی]( [Pidgin]( [Polish PO POLSKU]( [Portuguese BRASIL]( [Punjabi ਪੰਜਾਬੀ ਖ਼ਬਰਾਂ]( [Russian НА РУССКОМ]( [Serbian NA SRPSKOM]( [Sinhala සිංහල]( [Somali SOMALI]( [Swahili HABARI KWA KISWAHILI]( [Tamil தமிழில் செய்திகள்]( [Telugu తెలుగు వార్తలు]( [Thai ข่าวภาษาไทย]( [Tigrinya ዜና ብትግርኛ]( [Turkish TÜRKÇE]( [Ukrainian УКРАЇНСЬКA]( [Urdu اردو]( [Uzbek O'ZBEK]( [Vietnamese TIẾNG VIỆT]( [Welsh NEWYDDION]( [Yoruba ÌRÒYÌN NÍ YORÙBÁ]( Follow BBC on: * [Terms of Use]( * [Subscription Terms]( * [About the BBC]( * [Privacy Policy]( * [Cookies]( * [Accessibility Help]( * [Contact the BBC]( * [Advertise with us]( * [Do not share or sell my info]( * [BBC.com Help & FAQs]( * [Content Index]( * [Set Preferred Source]( Copyright 2026 BBC. 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