Hungary’s longtime Prime Minister Viktor Orban has conceded defeat in the country’s parliamentary election after partial official results showed Peter Magyar’s Tisza party winning by a landslide.
“Prime Minister Viktor Orban just called to congratulate us on our victory,” Magyar posted on social media on Sunday as the results rolled in.
With 97.35 percent of precincts counted, Magyar’s centre-right party secured 138 seats in the 199-seat parliament on 53.6 percent of the vote, while nationalist Orban’s Fidesz took just 55 seats with 37.8 percent, according to official results.
In a victory speech to tens of thousands of supporters gathered along the Danube River in the capital, Budapest, Magyar said his voters had rewritten history.
“Tonight, truth prevailed over lies,” he said. “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.”
Magyar said the results – projecting his party winning a two-thirds majority in parliament – represented a historic mandate and pledged to unite all Hungarians. “In the history of democratic Hungary, this many people have never voted before, and no single party has ever received such a strong mandate as Tisza.”
Reporting from the victory party, Al Jazeera’s Step Vaessen described scenes of jubilation.
“Budapest has absolutely exploded into celebrations,” she said. “It’s all over for Viktor Orban after 16 years. They can barely believe it, but it’s absolutely happening.”