Has Viktor Orbán’s defeat surprised you?
It overjoyed me. For a long time, efforts to remove him from power seemed unsuccessful, and the opposition often appeared weak. It was encouraging to see Péter Magyar win by such a large margin, giving him a real opportunity to reverse at least some of what Orbán had done.
It was also surprising because Orbán enjoyed support from powerful illiberal figures abroad such as Putin, controlled a powerful media machine, and had allies throughout the state apparatus. He was defeated at what seemed to be the height of his international influence. The whole world was watching the Hungarian elections. Why was so much attention focused on Hungary?
Orbán was doing this in the middle of the European Union and clearly violating much of the spirit of what it means to be European. He was a particular obstacle to Europe coalescing around democratic values. I've been very supportive of Ukraine, especially since the beginning of the full-scale war, and Orbán was single-handedly preventing Europe from helping Ukraine. It was a major geopolitical moment when that veto power was released and Europe could return to supporting democracy.
Now opposition parties and civil society players across the region are studying Péter Magyar to squeeze out some lessons on how to defeat an autocrat. Even Prime Minister Fico has modified some of his previous tactics of following Orbán’s handbook of capturing the state. Is there anything from that experience that could be useful for the United States?
