Orbán’s party takes most votes in Hungary’s EU election, but new challenger scores big win

By JUSTIN SPIKE
Associated Press

BUDAPEST, Hungary (AP) — Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orbán’s nationalist party has taken the most votes in the European Parliament elections, a race that has pitted the long-serving leader against a new challenger that has upended Orbán’s grip on Hungarian politics in recent months. With 85% of votes counted late Sunday, Orbán’s Fidesz party had 44% of the vote, enough to send 11 delegates of Hungary’s 21 total seats in the European Union’s legislature. While Fidesz took a plurality of votes, it was down nearly 10 percentage points from its support in 2019 EU elections and looked set to lose two seats in what was widely seen as a referendum on Orbán’s popularity. A rising challenger, Péter Magyar, and his party stood at 30% of the vote.