(LifeSiteNews) — Pro-life and pro-family Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orbán on Sunday conceded defeat to Péter Magyar, a strong supporter of the European Union.
Magyar’s victory marks the end of an era. Orbán led the country continuously for 16 years, becoming Hungary’s longest-serving prime minister in 2020, and distinguished himself as a fierce supporter of family values and national sovereignty.
Magyar, by contrast, supports greater integration with the European Union through closer cooperation and the adoption of the Euro currency, arguing that the financial move would strengthen Hungary’s position within the EU. He has been a member of the European Parliament (MEP) since 2024.
Election officials have reported that Magyar’s Tisza party is expected to win two-thirds of seats in parliament, with some hoping for an undoing of controversial legislation spearheaded by Orbán.
Since 2018, the conservative Fidesz leader had eliminated “gender studies” courses, banned same-sex adoption, required disclaimers for pro-LGBT books aimed at kids, and enshrined the natural family into the national constitution.
In 2022, the EU attacked legislation enacted in Hungary under Orbán that banned the promotion of homosexuality, “transgenderism,” and pornographic materials to minors in schools as well as cracked down on pedophilia.
Orbán was also under fire from the European Union for resisting mass migration to his nation.
Magyar, a former member of Hungary’s governing Fidesz party, dissociated himself from Orbán’s leadership after releasing a recording that showed that the president of Hungary, Katalin Novák, had granted a presidential pardon in to Endre Kónya, the deputy director of a state-run children’s home who had coerced children into covering up sexual abuse by his superior, János Vásárhelyi, the home’s director.
The new prime minister of Hungary has campaigned on fighting corruption and boosting the country’s economy but has been notably quiet on controversial issues and has even been vague about much of what he does promote.
“We will fundamentally restore, we will do everything to restore the rule of law, plural democracy, and the system of checks and balances,” he said at a news conference in Budapest, according to Reuters.
Leftist European Union Commission President Ursula von der Leyen welcomed Orbán’s defeat by Magyar, calling it a “victory for fundamental freedoms.”