Outgoing Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orbán will not take his seat in parliament following a landslide election loss this month, and will instead focus on rebuilding his nationalist-populist political community, he announced on Saturday (April 25, 2026) in a video on social media.

Hungary’s April 12 election brought an end to Mr. Orbán’s 16 years in power when voters cast their ballots overwhelmingly for a centre-right challenger who promised to crack down on endemic corruption and restore Hungary’s democratic institutions that had been eroded under Mr. Orbán.

Hungarians were casting ballots on Sunday (April 12, 2026) in what is widely seen as Europe’s most consequential election this year, a vote that could unseat populist Prime Minister Viktor Orban, an ally of U.S. President Donald Trump, after 16 years in power.

It’s a key moment for Mr. Orban, the European Union’s longest-serving leader and one of its biggest antagonists, who has travelled a long road from his early days as a liberal, anti-Soviet firebrand to the Russia-friendly nationalist admired today by the global far-right.