Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban's right-wing party Fidesz won the most votes in the country's European Parliament elections, but lost ground to the new opposition party TISZA, exit polls showed on June 9.
European Union member states held elections between June 6 and 9 for the bloc's 720-member European Parliament.
Orban's Fidesz party, a nationalist and pro-Russian faction that has held power in Hungary since 2010, secured 44% of the vote, according to exit polls. The win grants Fidesz 11 of Hungary's 21 seats in the European Parliament.
Despite coming in first, Fidesz's result is projected to be its lowest in either national or EU elections in two decades.
The results represent a 10% drop in support for Fidesz from the 2019 elections. The opposition TISZA party, led by Peter Magyar, took 30% of the votes, enough to send seven delegates to the European Parliament.
Magyar called the election "the beginning of the end" for Fidesz.
"Today, the future has begun in Hungary," Magyar said to a crowd of supporters in Budapest on June 9.
Magyar plans to challenge Orban's grip on power in the next national election, scheduled for 2026.
A report from the independent analytical center Political Capital found that Fidesz is Google's biggest advertiser in the EU, spending over $2 million to promote anti-Western disinformation narratives in the lead-up to the European elections.
Fidesz's advertising included hostile narratives against Magyar, the report found.
Orban is the Kremlin's closest ally in the EU. He has repeatedly obstructed aid for Ukraine and opposed Kyiv's NATO and EU accession.
Elsa Court
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