With Viktor Orbán’s defeat, a liberal right victory in Hungary

In 2016, two events were seen as cataclysmic for liberal politics and the international order: Donald Trump became US president for the first time, and Britons voted to leave the European Union. The trend of democracies turning “illiberal” in their founding states had echoes across continents, perhaps most starkly in Hungary and the figure of Viktor Orbán. Earlier this week, after 16 years as prime minister, Orbán was routed in the elections. His Fidesz party is reduced to just 55 seats in the country’s 199-seat parliament, despite gerrymandering and control over state media. Orbán, a poster boy for the global far-right movement — characterised by, among other things, a lack of respect for democratic institutions and undisguised xenophobia — had the backing of MAGA leaders, including Trump and J D Vance. His defeat, however, has not come from the left-liberals. It marks the return of a liberal right.

Prime Minister-elect Péter Magyar is a former Fidesz member who campaigned on an anti-corruption platform. He also spoke of restoring the independence of institutions. Unlike Orbán, he has a pro-EU stance on crucial economic and policy issues, including Russia’s invasion of Ukraine. On immigration, he appears to see the value of compromise, and does not speak in the language of prejudice.

Since the rise of populist leaders in several democracies, hours of airtime and reams of newsprint have been spent discussing how liberalism can find its way back. Magyar’s victory is now an important part of that conversation. The responsibility of protecting institutions does not lie only with the so-called “left”. A right-wing politics that does not see victory as conquest, that fights to uphold the rules and structures of democratic politics, can resonate with voters as well.