Supporters of Peter Magyar, the leader of the opposition Tisza party celebrates after a parliamentary election in Budapest, Hungary, Sunday, April 12, 2026. (AP Photo/Darko Bandic)

BUDAPEST, Hungary (AP) — Hungarian voters on Sunday ousted long-serving Prime Minister Viktor Orban after 16 years in power, rejecting the authoritarian policies and global far-right movement that he embodied in favor of a pro-European challenger in a bombshell election result with global repercussions.

It was a stunning blow for Orban — a close ally of both U.S. President Donald Trump and Russian President Vladimir Putin — who quickly conceded defeat after what he called a “painful” election result. U.S. Vice President JD Vance had made a visit to Hungary just days earlier, meant to help push Orban over the finish line.

Election victor Péter Magyar, a former Orban loyalist who campaigned against corruption and on everyday issues such as health care and public transport, has pledged to rebuild Hungary’s relationships with the European Union and NATO — ties that frayed under Orban. European leaders quickly congratulated Magyar.

His victory was expected to transform political dynamics within the EU, where Orban had upended the bloc by frequently vetoing key decisions, prompting concerns he sought to break it up from the inside.

It will also reverberate among far-right movements around the world, which have viewed Orban as a beacon for how nationalist populism can be used to wage culture wars and leverage state power to undermine opponents.

It’s not yet clear whether Magyar’s Tisza party will have the two-thirds majority in parliament, which would give it the numbers needed for major changes in legislation. With 93% of the vote counted, it had more than 53% support to 37% for Orban’s governing Fidesz party and looked set to win 94 of Hungary’s 106 voting districts.

“I congratulated the victorious party,” Orban told followers. “We are going to serve the Hungarian nation and our homeland from opposition.”

In a speech to tens of thousands of jubilant supporters at a victory party along the Danube River, Magyar said his voters had rewritten Hungarian history.

“Tonight, truth prevailed over lies,” he told them.

“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,” he said.

On the streets of Budapest, drivers blared car horns and cranked up anti-government songs while people marching in the streets chanted and screamed.

Many revelers chanted “Ruszkik haza!” or “Russians go home!” — a phrase used widely during Hungary’s 1956 anti-Soviet revolution, and which had gained increasing currency amid Orbán’s drift toward Moscow.