Viktor Orbán concedes defeat after 'painful' election result

https://apnews.com/article/hungary-election-orban-magyar-trump-1a4eb0ba6b94e0c80c3cd18bd36254ab

by hackernj • 3 months ago

262 69 3 months ago

card_zero2• 3 months ago

Ooooh. I didn't think it would happen. This disturbs the balance a bit.

stefs• 3 months ago

which balance? orban was a parasite, trying to embezzle as much money from the EU without getting the boot (hungary as the biggest per-head receiver of EU funds), while probably also getting paid by russia - a hostile actor - for his actions (i.e. sabotaging the union and sowing dissent through propaganda). there was no balance there.

card_zero2• 3 months ago

OK then, some other metaphor to say it allows things to change and allows escape from a static situation. It releases the brakes?

lysace2• 3 months ago

Welcome back to Europe, Hungary.

jacquesm7• 3 months ago

Time will tell. Keep in mind that his successor was part of Orban's party in the past.

flopsamjetsam• 3 months ago

I don't know much about him, only that he was in the same party. I have heard that he is pro-EU and anti-Russia though, is that true?

lysace2• 3 months ago

From your perspective as afaik nowadays a Californian progressive: Don't let perfect be the enemy of good.

mandeepj• 3 months ago

They all start from the same root whether Trump (once a democrat), BJP (part of congress, oldest political party in India)

chollida1• 3 months ago

Sad commentary on the modern world where my first thought was, well good for Orban to concede defeat. Not all current world heads of state have that much maturity.

This bodes well for the midterm state of the European union.

mstade• 3 months ago

As a fellow European this is the biggest surprise of the election, I thought for sure he'd pull a Trump.

crop_rotation• 3 months ago

Pulling a Trump requires a polarized electorate where you are mostly going to have both parties in 48-52% range, with only real fights in few battleground states, and no absurd change in total vote %. Even Trump won't pull a Trump if other party was nearing 2/3rd majority. I am not even sure of what would happen to American politics if a party reaches 2/3rd majority in both houses, a list of long pending reforms might finally become possible.

esbranson2• 3 months ago

Getting arrested after losing an election? Or getting arrested as an opposition candidate in an election which he later won?

analog31• 3 months ago

Peaceful transition of power is definitely something to cheer about.

ahofmann• 3 months ago

Sadly so. In the last decades it was just normal for almost all countries. It's kind of maddening how low Trump lowered the bar for politicians.

esbranson2• 3 months ago

No, this is not sad commentary on the modern world.

croisillon2• 3 months ago

contesting election results untruthfully always existed, but since 2021 the result is not the headline anymore, the concession is

tomalaci• 3 months ago

Amazing news for EU! If Tisza can get supermajority after votes are counted then they can also easily reverse a lot of constitutional corruption in Hungary done by Orban.

seper82• 3 months ago

Thank god Vance showed up to support him!

ceejayoz• 3 months ago

Vance also knocked off Pope Francis, and the Iran deal last night. Maybe we can send him to Moscow next.

seper82• 3 months ago

I bet Viktor felt too uncomfortable to tell him "no please don't come stay in the USA, you are political poison"

JojoFatsani• 3 months ago

Vance is on track to replace Dan Quayle at the bottom of the Civ leader rankings.

cosmicgadget2• 3 months ago

Yes but has Orban even said thank you?

comrade1234• 3 months ago

Flagged due to sour grapes.

Symbiote• 3 months ago

My guess is it's flagged by Americans (it's their daytime) who don't realize the significance of this result to the EU and potentially the EU's response to the war in Ukraine.

salawat2• 3 months ago

You know, I took a second look at it, and weirdly enough, I can't vouch it for some reason. That's odd. Grats to the good folks across the pond though! May we be so lucky when next our transition is scheduled!

burnt-resistor• 3 months ago

Probably flagged by MAGA and pro-Kremlin aligned accounts who dislike the results and uppercase Liberal limousine establishment Democrats who try to censor every view they don't already agree with. If these were normal times, the I'd say keep sex, religion, and politics private except not the latter when liberal democratic politicians, speech-debate, and journalism are/were under fire in many sectors and countries. I'm hoping with this result that Hungary will experience much greater press and personal freedom.. and the corruption will hopefully be exposed more widely similar to Caolan Robertson only hinting at some of the extravagant emoluments and embezzlement. https://youtu.be/HiayCdysN04

surgical_fire2• 3 months ago

Eh, I guess that people that flagged it know quite well what this result mean to the EU, they just hate it because they want to see the EU fail.

jredwards• 3 months ago

American here. I was at a party when I saw the news and gleefully announced it to the table I was sitting at. We were all pleased with both the result and the concession.

...we know.

FeloniousHam• 3 months ago

Probably flagged because of lack of tech relevance.

(I listen Ukraine: The Latest daily, I'm reasonably up-to-date big issue European politics).

deno• 3 months ago

Exactly: https://news.ycombinator.com/newsguidelines.html

consumer451• 3 months ago

This is a hugely important geopolitical event, and mods here often override flagging in such cases.

Here is an example of HN moderation going the other way, when it favored a right-leaning narrative:

https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=34712496

It is getting more and more difficult for me to see moderation here as unbiased. The charitable take is that people are often not aware of their biases. I am sure I suffer from that to some extent, though I really try to go out of my way to be self-aware about this. And yes, of course this comment could be evidence of my own bias.

workfromspace• 3 months ago

Happy for Hungary!

Unfortunatlely, half democracies (ie representative) are open to abuse and give too much power to presidents or governments. Combined with populism, lobbying and corruption, it allows people like Orban to stay in power for a long time. Glad it's over.

thomassmith65• 3 months ago

Happy for Hungary, the EU, the planet. The sooner the world falls out of love with populism and illiberalism, the better.

Jamesbeam• 3 months ago

I knew the projections were looking really grim for Orban after watching JD Vance putting Trump on speakerphone five days ago during his Hungary visit. That was awkward.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0GUoCvIMrgc

They must be really tired of winning by now.

What? 4$ gas until November Mr.President? Who doesn’t love paying 30% more for Gas out of their pocket for a war that is already won. Tremendous work Mr. President. A capital V victory.

surgical_fire2• 3 months ago

Good. I visited Hungary years ago, and I loved the time I spent there. It saddened me a bit to see its sliding into autocracy and being relegated to be a Russian vassal state.

Hopefully the damage Orban caused to Hugarian institutions get reversed.

sph• 3 months ago

It all seems so easy, despite the efforts of Putin and the US to support a guy that was there for almost two decades. I wonder if the incumbent party is, somehow, in the pocket of those fascists. I have a hard time accepting they’d just shrug and move on from being able to control a puppet state that’s the thorn in EU’s side.

Any reason not to be so cynical? I am unfamiliar with the details of Hungarian politics, but I can’t help wondering if it is staged. And why would Orbán just roll over after all this time in power?

anal_reactor• 3 months ago

I have a hard time accepting they’d just shrug and move on from being able to control a puppet state that’s the thorn in EU’s side.

What can they realistically do? Invade Hungary?

And why would Orbán just roll over after all this time in power?

What can he realistically do? A coup? With such a devastating defeat this would only lead to massive protests, which would completely ruin his political career. Meanwhile he can take a step back and think how to get back to the game in the next election.

As bad as Orban was, and as manipulated the election process was, he always won using legit votes. Which was both his strength and his weakness.

Scipio_Afri• 3 months ago

Why is this and all other posts about this flagged?

croisillon2• 3 months ago

"unpolitical" people don't like being reminded what their stance brings to

Whatarethese• 3 months ago

It really feels like the tides are turning against the cancer that is populism.

imartin2k• 3 months ago

I suspected he would lose when he was recently visited and supported by Vance. Nobody likes Vance (in Europe, and probably anywhere). Getting prominent backing by an unlikable character isn’t a winning strategy.

derdi3• 3 months ago

Also, the fact of faking a terror attack and everybody just shrugging it off as an obvious Russian false flag op. I think even Orbán understood at that point that the jig was up.

tim333• 3 months ago

One thing that's surprised me over the last few years is how much Russia messes with global politics. It seems to seeping into public consciousness so instead of being seen as a bit of a conspiracy theory you now have the crowds shouting Russia out. I don't know if that'll effect other Russia backed projects like Brexit financed by Russia via Arron Banks and Trump, financed by the "We have all the funding we need out of Russia" stuff. It doesn't seem illegal but the voters may be getting fed up with it all?

Viktor Orbán concedes defeat after 'painful' election result

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