The Guardian view on Hungary’s election: democracy reclaimed | Editorial

Prior to his landslide election victory in 2010, which was to lead to 16 unbroken years in power, Viktor Orbán would tell supporters: “We have only to win once, but then properly.” Achieving a so-called supermajority by winning two-thirds of parliamentary seats allowed Mr Orbán to change the constitution, and begin turning Hungary into a soft autocracy. From the judiciary to the media and universities, the checks and balances of a democratic society were steadily dismantled and minorities were marginalised, as the country became a beacon for the global far right and a nationalist thorn in the side of Brussels.

On Sunday, stunningly, it was Mr Orbán’s centre-right challenger, Péter Magyar, who “won properly”. After a record turnout, his Tisza party is all but certain to win its own supermajority. Given Mr Orbán’s control of state media and gerrymandering of constituencies to favour his Fidesz party, this was a truly remarkable result.

Its decisive nature gives Mr Magyar the mandate to begin the arduous process of “de-Orbánising” a society where the outgoing prime minister’s power network was insidiously embedded throughout civic life. Under Mr Orbán, a self-serving elite enriched itself at the expense of the wider population, as the economy stagnated and EU funds were misdirected and misspent. Mr Magyar, a disillusioned former Fidesz member, is no progressive. But after campaigning on an anti-corruption platform, the early indications are that he will act swiftly to roll back some of the most egregious abuses of the Orbán era.

There is also understandable elation in Brussels. The EU can hope that Mr Magyar’s victory signals the end of the forever war with a member state that had gone rogue, openly flouting its values in relation to the rule of law and minority rights. One of the first tasks for Hungary’s new leader will be to deliver in areas such as judicial reform and academic freedom in order to unlock €17bn in suspended EU payments.

On Ukraine, Mr Magyar has shared Mr Orbán’s opposition to sending weapons to Kyiv and EU accession talks. There will also be differences over migration policy. But speaking to reporters on Monday, he signalled a direction of travel towards, rather than away from, compromise. Where Mr Orbán weaponised and actively sought out disagreement with Brussels on Russian sanctions and other matters – cravenly performing Vladimir Putin’s bidding in doing so – Mr Magyar will aim to be a leader with whom Brussels can do business.

In sharp contrast, Washington and Moscow have lost a leader valued by both as a skilled disruptor of European unity. Last week’s stump visit to Budapest by the US vice-president, JD Vance, and Donald Trump’s pledge of economic support to Mr Orbán could not save him, and may have made matters worse. As enhanced EU cohesion becomes imperative in an ever more challenging era, Hungary’s voters have taken a giant step towards making that goal more achievable.

But this was, above all, an election in which Hungarian citizens reclaimed their own democracy. As Mr Magyar said on Monday, after the years of Orbánism, they were demanding in vast numbers “not just a change of government, but … a change of regime”. Polls suggest that the young, in particular, mobilised en masse to oust a leader whose authoritarian presence overshadowed their country’s politics for most of their lives. Spectacularly, they succeeded.