CNN: In Hungary, the loss of Orban shows how populism can end up in the blind

Although polls had suggested a decisive victory for the opposition Tisza party, many of its supporters refused to allow themselves to imagine how the victory would feel. After 16 years of rule by Orban's nonliberal Fidesz party, the election field was so tilted against his opponents that some questioned whether an alternative was possible.

So when Orban conceded defeat in the face of his opponent, Peter Magyar, for some it felt like a regime change. Andras Petocz, a writer and poet, said the feeling reminded him of his time in Budapest during the fall of the Soviet Union.

I was 30 when the communist regime fell. It's the same feeling:”, he told CNN from the Danube coast, where thousands of Fidesz supporters had gathered to hear the results.

Magyar, the next prime minister, told the crowd: “S Together, we replaced the Orban regime. Together, we freed Hungary. We got our country back”.

Although many things remain unclear from the size of most of the Tisza in parliament to the way that it will begin to dismantle the system that Fidesz built has shown how populism can end up in the dead. His loss provides lessons for those who would seek to imitate him and for those who are pleased to see him leave.

The first lesson is that it is difficult to internationalize nationalism. After governing for so long as the national sovereignty champion, he promised to protect Hungary from the alleged threats of the European Union and liberal ideology the Orban campaign finally relied heavily on the support of his powerful international allies in the United States and Russia.

Sent to Budapest last week to assist the closest ally of the Trump administration in Europe, vice president JD Vance said he was willing to help Orabn “as much as I can. President Donald Trump went further. “D ILIN AND VOTON He wrote on the Social Truth. “He's a true friend, warrior and FITator”

The Trump administration's efforts did not work. While some Hungarians gathered in a hall in Budapest to hear Vance on Tuesday certainly felt appreciated by the attention of a superpower and grateful to the prime minister who had brought it, there is something contradictory in the idea that people would vote for a nationalist politician because a foreign power demands it.

Prior to the loss of Orabn, Ivan Krastev, a Bulgarian political scientist who knows Orban since the 1990s, told CNN: “Ironia is that if he loses, he will lose as a globalist”. Calling to aid his powerful friends abroad, Orban was “doing everything you would expect from strong international political leaders”.

One reason why Orban's campaign was so focused on foreign policy is that its internal balance was so weak. This is another lesson from his loss: populism has to do with the gain of day, week, news cycle. To function, this model of governance “battle after battle” needs a constant flow of enemies. Orban found many: NGOs, liberal universities, George Sorosin, LGBTQ movement, the European Union.

But after all, finish up the “dragons you have to kill. Much of Orban's campaign demonstrated neighboring Ukraine. Budapest is covered with posters of Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky. Some write: “Resert!” Others: “do not let him laugh last”

Without an emerging economy, or a well-managed health system, or other concrete achievements to show, Orbanit's campaign synoi tʹi scared Hungarians to vote for Fidesz, presenting themselves as the safe “selection” to protect Hungary from threats claimed by Ukraine. “He always talks about sovereignty, but to believe that the main threat to Hungarian sovereignty is Ukraine (becomes) comically”, Krastev said.

To counter Orban's unclear warnings of external danger, Magyar simply had to show his balance in the country with which Hungarians were not very impressed.

For those seeking to defeat populists, the loss of Orban also offers lessons. Despite his overwhelming victory, many left and liberal Hungarians are not very excited by Magyar, a former Fidesz member who remains deeply conservative.

However, Hungarians joined around Magyar, judging him correctly as their best electoral chance to defeat Orban. Peter Creco, a political scientist who runs political think-tank Capital in Budapest, told CNN that the most liberal voters in Hungary did not allow the perfect to become an enemy of good.

In a victory speech in front of Hungary's parliament, Magyar told his supporters that it was clear of the challenges ahead. He called on Orban to act as a “guardian” and not prevent the work of the next government.

But for his supporters, if Tisza could dismantle the orbanist model and the government effectively looked like a question for another night.

The “would be a welcome turn if Hungary were to switch from a model of non-liberalism, post-reality and authoritarianism in the Western world to a model of democratic change”, Kreco said.