{"id":50018,"date":"2026-04-14T01:32:05","date_gmt":"2026-04-14T01:32:05","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/foreignnewstoday.com\/?p=50018"},"modified":"2026-04-14T01:32:05","modified_gmt":"2026-04-14T01:32:05","slug":"liberated-hungarian-youths-celebrate-viktor-orbans-defeat","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/foreignnewstoday.com\/?p=50018","title":{"rendered":"\u2018Liberated\u2019: Hungarian youths celebrate Viktor Orban\u2019s defeat"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><br \/>\n<br \/><\/p>\n<p>Hungarian youths danced and sang in the early hours of Monday in central Budapest to celebrate the end of nationalist Prime Minister Viktor Orban\u2019s 16-year \u201cilliberal\u201d rule following a resounding <a href=\"https:\/\/www.dawn.com\/news\/1991135\">electoral drubbing<\/a>.<\/p>\n<p>Strangers high-fived each others, cars honked, and youths ripped down government and ruling party anti-Ukraine billboards as many said they felt \u201cliberated\u201d.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cAt long last it feels so good to be Hungarian. It\u2019s like a weight lifted off our shoulders,\u201d Csilla Bekesi, 25, told <em>AFP<\/em>, celebrating with others on Budapest\u2019s grand boulevard.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cI still have goosebumps. My wildest dream came true,\u201d said another youngster, 22 year-old student Andras Szabo, who came back to vote from Berlin.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cFor as long as I can remember, I have known Orban only as the leader, it was great he left at once,\u201d he said, adding he felt a \u201cnovel sense of pride\u201d.<\/p>\n<p>Orban, a defender of \u201cilliberal democracy\u201d, conceded defeat to conservative pro-European Peter Magyar, whose party won a two-thirds parliamentary majority in Sunday\u2019s vote that saw a record turnout.<\/p>\n<h2><a id=\"we-have-won\" href=\"#we-have-won\" class=\"heading-permalink\" aria-hidden=\"true\" title=\"Permalink\"><\/a>\u2018We have won\u2019<\/h2>\n<p>\u201cIt is over; we have won\u201d, small crowds chanted euphorically at each other on Budapest\u2019s Chain Bridge.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cDear young people of Hungary, let me address you directly,\u201d Magyar, 45, a former party insider and political newcomer, said during his election night speech.<\/p>\n<figure class=\"media  w-full  w-full  media--left    media--uneven  media--stretch\" data-original-src=\"https:\/\/x.com\/Reuters\/status\/2043462958164889619\">\n<div class=\"media__item  media__item--twitter  \"><span><\/p>\n<blockquote class=\"twitter-tweet\" lang=\"en\"><p>\n        <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/Reuters\/status\/2043462958164889619\"><\/a>\n    <\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p><\/span><\/div>\n<\/figure>\n<p>\u201cThank you for restoring our hope for change, our hope for a humane and courageous Hungary,\u201d he told tens of thousands of supporters on the banks of the Danube in Budapest against the backdrop of the illuminated parliament on the other side of the river.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cYou have taken action and shown us what it means not to be afraid, and what it means to begin building a Hungary free from fear,\u201d he added.<\/p>\n<p>Zsolt Hegedus, who Magyar has designated as future health minister, enthusiastically danced on the stage.<\/p>\n<p>Ahead of Sunday\u2019s vote, there were signs that Orban had lost support among many young Hungarians.<\/p>\n<p>One of the last surveys by pollster Median showed that 76 per cent of under-30s were Tisza supporters, while only 10pc were Fidesz sympathisers.<\/p>\n<h2><a id=\"filthy-fidesz\" href=\"#filthy-fidesz\" class=\"heading-permalink\" aria-hidden=\"true\" title=\"Permalink\"><\/a>\u2018Filthy Fidesz\u2019<\/h2>\n<p>Already during last summer, chants of \u201cFilthy Fidesz\u201d became increasingly common at concerts, including at Budapest\u2019s famed Sziget Festival, one of Europe\u2019s largest outdoor music events.<\/p>\n<p>Since his return to power in 2010, Orban also faced <a href=\"https:\/\/www.dawn.com\/news\/1826136\">recurring protests<\/a> from teachers and students, who accused his government of financially neglecting the education sector.<\/p>\n<p>Orban touted several policies, including an income tax exemption for under 25s, as youth-friendly policies, and during the campaign he also asked older Fidesz supporters to talk with their children and grandchildren.<\/p>\n<p>But ultimately Fidesz \u201cdid not have a tangible offer to the youth who were rather anxious about the stagnating economy, living conditions, housing, healthcare and education,\u201d political scientist Edit Zgut-Przybylska from the Polish Academy of Sciences told <em>AFP<\/em>.<\/p>\n<p>As youths in Hungary, like elsewhere in Europe, have \u201cdeveloped huge distrust in traditional, institutional politics,\u201d they are also \u201chighly active politically in terms of activism and protest\u201d, Zgut-Przybylska said.<\/p>\n<p>Magyar\u2019s movement \u201ccaptured this energy and turned it into votes\u201d, engaging \u201cGen Z with hope-based, positive, pro-European messages that provided concrete remedies for their anxieties of an uncertain future,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cWhat a night, what a carnival, I honked my horn all night, I\u2019m ecstatic,\u201d Kristoffer Mayer, a 28-year-old taxi driver, told <em>AFP<\/em>.<\/p>\n<p>Fidesz \u201csuffocated, strangled, poisoned this country for so long it was hard to breathe,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cI know he (Magyar) won\u2019t be able to do everything he promised as they (Fidesz) have robbed the state coffers. It will be so difficult, but we hope, and we believe the future starts now,\u201d he added.<\/p>\n<p><script async src=\"https:\/\/platform.twitter.com\/widgets.js\" charset=\"utf-8\"><\/script><br \/>\n<br \/><br \/>\n<br \/><a href=\"https:\/\/www.dawn.com\/news\/1991350\/liberated-hungarian-youths-celebrate-viktor-orbans-defeat\">Source link <\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Hungarian youths danced and sang in the early hours of Monday in central Budapest to celebrate the end of nationalist Prime Minister Viktor Orban\u2019s 16-year \u201cilliberal\u201d&hellip;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":50019,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_lmt_disableupdate":"","_lmt_disable":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[45],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-50018","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-asia"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/foreignnewstoday.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/50018","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/foreignnewstoday.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/foreignnewstoday.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/foreignnewstoday.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/foreignnewstoday.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=50018"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/foreignnewstoday.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/50018\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/foreignnewstoday.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/50019"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/foreignnewstoday.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=50018"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/foreignnewstoday.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=50018"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/foreignnewstoday.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=50018"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}