On the 12th of April, the world witnessed a hugely seismic national election result. This one is bound to have enormous worldwide repercussions. Viktor Orban has spent 16 years as Hungary’s prime minister, serving in this role for four consecutive four-year terms.
But Orban has now been ousted as the reactionary and authoritarian leader of this landlocked Eastern European nation. Opposition leader Peter Magyar soared to a resounding win in parliamentary elections. In the process, his TISZA party swept to victory with a two-thirds supermajority of seats in the National Assembly.
There has been more than a decade of division, decline, decay, corruption, cronyism, illiberalism, and unchecked power in Hungary. However, Hungary’s people have now turned out in record numbers. In so doing, one of many radical populist politicians on this planet has now been ejected. It is certainly a huge shift in fortunes for a so-called ‘beacon to the right’ after he won a landslide victory just four years earlier.
What Orban’s crushing election defeat in Hungary means for the rest of the world
It is a sharp reversal in electoral performance for Orban’s Fidesz party. This really represents the beginning of the end for a supposed ‘populist wave’ that has been sweeping much of the globe for more than a decade now. We have seen substantial democratic backsliding, massively hindered social progress, and hugely reduced social cohesion in recent years. It is all largely thanks to this populism.
It has brought about unprecedented levels of pain and fear that we have all witnessed throughout our young lives. I think strongly that these dark times were caused primarily by the rise of such poisonous and toxic politics. It would appear, though, as if we are finally turning a corner. There is, at long last, some light at the end of this Trumpian tunnel.
The visible decline in nationalist and populist sentiments in other Western nations
Making such a bold statement is perfectly reasonable, due to the state of play in other Western nations. It has now been a whole decade since we voted to leave the European Union by a 52-48 margin in June 2016. However, public opinion in the UK currently asserts something completely different. It now states that 58 per cent of survey respondents believe Brexit was the wrong decision for this country to have made at the time.
Only 30 per cent think that we were right to leave, according to the January 2026 opinion polling. This represents a 26-point deficit against public support for Brexit. Compare this with only 44 per cent of respondents thinking six years ago that the UK was wrong to leave the EU.
That same April 2020 poll also shows 43 per cent believing we were right to leave the EU. Additionally, U.S. President Donald Trump is experiencing a staggering crash in his personal approval rating among the American people. According to The Economist, Trump’s net favourability rating has sharply fallen since he re-entered the Oval Office as commander in chief.
It has gone from +1 per cent on the 1st of March 2025, to -19 per cent on the 12th of April 2026. This is significantly worse than the approval poll results that Trump received just 15 months into his first term. It is also worse than what Joe Biden received at this time in his presidential term.
Looking forward to a future that is significantly less regressive than the present
Perhaps this is why Trump’s Republican Party is predicted to perform abysmally in the 2026 U.S. midterm elections. There are some very strong Democratic candidates standing for election this year in the Senate and House of Representatives races. This includes the battleground areas.
Texas, Alaska, Ohio, and Iowa are all traditionally solidly Republican states. However, I think that they could all be in play for the Democrats in November of this year. I am, therefore, heavily anticipating that the UK will soon rejoin the EU, and that Trump will badly lose the House and the Senate this November.
If that is what happens, then I suppose the people of this planet would finally have decided to ‘drain the swamp’ of radical nationalism and populism.
Featured image credit: Alain Rolland via Wikimedia
