From disappointment to shrugging shoulders How Europe's populists are reacting to Orban's election defeat

Election defeat for Orban - a shock for Europe's right?

Hungary's long-standing head of government Orban was an icon for many on the right in Europe.

Image: Archivbild: dpa

AfD party leader Alice Weidel had a good relationship with Hungary's now voted out head of government Viktor Orban.

Image: Archivbild: dpa

Italy's Prime Minister Georgia Meloni and Orban also had a close relationship over the years.

Image: Archivbild: dpa

Election defeat for Orban - a shock for Europe's right?

Hungary's long-standing head of government Orban was an icon for many on the right in Europe.

Image: Archivbild: dpa

AfD party leader Alice Weidel had a good relationship with Hungary's now voted out head of government Viktor Orban.

Image: Archivbild: dpa

Italy's Prime Minister Georgia Meloni and Orban also had a close relationship over the years.

Image: Archivbild: dpa

Orban was seen as a role model by many far-right parties. After he was voted out of office, Europe's right-wing populists are looking for a new direction - and are affected in different ways.

DPA

14.04.2026, 21:14

14.04.2026, 21:20

dpa

Not only AfD leader Alice Weidel liked to pose in photos with Viktor Orban. For many right-wing populists in Europe, Hungary's now voted-out head of government was an icon.

They admired him for the technical and organizational skills with which he transformed his country into an "illiberal democracy". And for the fact that he held on to power for 16 years. That is now over. And Europe's right-wingers must first come to terms with the loss of their role model and political point of reference.

For the AfD, Orban's election defeat is a punch in the gut. Party leader Weidel, who has a close relationship with him and was received by him almost like a state guest in Budapest shortly before the 2025 general election, spent a long time searching for the right words and only finally wrote on X the afternoon after election day:

"Congratulations to the Tisza party on their election victory in Hungary. Many thanks to Viktor Orbán. His achievements for his homeland and his services to Europe remain an incentive for us to continue to stand up for a continent of sovereign nations."

A picture with Orban from Weidel's meeting in Budapest continues to adorn her X profile.

Other AfD politicians expressed their disappointment with the result at X. Benedikt Kaiser, a right-wing thought leader in the AfD environment, wrote that a popular thesis in the Polish right is also becoming more relevant in Germany: "Voluntary self-commitment to hard Trumpism is doing colossal damage to the respective domestic right among voters."

For France's right-wing nationalist Marine Le Pen, Orban's defeat is personally and strategically disappointing. Le Pen and Orban have had a close relationship for years. Just a few weeks ago, at a meeting of right-wing nationalist forces in Budapest, she called him a friend, a pioneer and an exceptional politician.

After the election, she said that he had managed the transition of power with elegance. The Rassemblement National is dreaming of Le Pen or party leader Jordan Bardella becoming French head of state next year - and then resolutely leading the fight against the EU Commission.

The Eurosceptics have now lost an important player in Orban. However, it is unlikely that Le Pen and Bardella will suffer domestically as a result of Orban's defeat. France is too focused on itself.

Orban's ouster is a major blow for Poland's right-wing conservative opposition party PiS. The Hungarian was a shining example for the party, whose leader Jaroslaw Kaczynski already enthused in 2011 that there would one day be a "Budapest in Warsaw".

He was announcing what the PiS government would later implement from 2015 to 2023 in terms of the rule of law, democracy and disputes with the EU - until it was voted out of office. Poland's right-wing President Karol Nawrocki traveled to Orban in March to provide him with election campaign support.

The day after the election, he congratulated the winner, Peter Magyar, but said that it was not the role of Poland's head of state to comment on election results. Meanwhile, the PiS leadership initially went into hiding. "The PiS now needs to sort itself out," says political scientist Agnieszka Lada-Konefal from the German Poland Institute.

Poland's right, which constantly emphasizes its closeness to US President Donald Trump, must also reflect on the fact that Orban lost the election in light of Trump's support. "They will probably no longer praise Trump in every other sentence," said Lada-Konefal.

For Italy's right-wing Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni, Orban has been an important political point of reference and strategic ally on several issues over the past few years. The two appreciate each other and have built up a close relationship over time.

In her congratulatory post for Magyar at X, Meloni expressly emphasized her gratitude to her "friend Viktor Orban" for the "intensive cooperation" - she knows that he will continue to serve his country even from the opposition.

Despite their fundamental closeness, significant differences have emerged over time: since her election as head of government, Meloni has softened her tone considerably, acts as a reliable partner in the EU and she and Orban have also recently been far apart on Russia's war against Ukraine.

Orban's defeat is therefore unlikely to have any dramatic consequences for Meloni in the short term. Magyar presents himself as a conservative, is considered pro-Western and not close to Russia - so there are likely to be overlaps between him and Meloni.

Orban has so far been a role model and close ally for the right-wing Austrian FPÖ. Now the opposition party is trying to use the Hungarian elections to mobilize its own supporters: Party leader Herbert Kickl and other politicians are arguing that the EU is to blame for Orban's defeat. EU funds had been withheld in order to harm him.

Kickl also warned that without Orban, "Brussels' insane projects could now be rolled out more easily than before, against the will and to the detriment of the population". The FPÖ, which has been Austria's most popular party for years, remains loyal to Orban even after his defeat.

The far-right alliance in the European Union, Patriots for Europe (PfE), has lost its only head of government from its own ranks with Orban's dismissal. The political group assured Orban and Fidesz of its full support after the election and referred in a statement to the importance of "defending national sovereignty and conservative values in Europe".

The PfE also includes politicians from the Rassemblement National, the Italian Lega and the FPÖ. With 85 MEPs, the group is currently the third largest group in the European Parliament.

Manfred Weber, Chairman of the Christian Democratic European People's Party (EPP), spoke of a massive weakening of the populists. "With the defeat of Viktor Orban, the right-wing populists have also lost their symbolic figure, their leader figure across Europe", he told ARD's European studio in Brussels. With 184 MEPs, the EPP is the largest political group in the EU Parliament and has several European heads of government.

For the British right-wing populist and Brexit campaigner Nigel Farage, whose Reform Party is still leading the polls, the deposed Hungarian head of government had been toxic for some time.

At the latest since the start of the Russian war of aggression in Ukraine, the Briton has clearly refrained from expressing sympathy for Orban, whom he once praised as a role model. Orban's cuddling up to Moscow did not go down well even with die-hard EU opponents on the island.