The Daily Populous Sunday April 12nd, 2026 evening edition
Authored by politico.eu and submitted by Zhukov-74

People arrive to cast their votes during the Hungarian parliamentary elections at a polling station in Budapest. | Janos Kummer/Getty Images

Voter turnout in Hungary on Sunday shattered records for the country’s democratic history — in a sign of the level of engagement in an election to decide whether Prime Minister Viktor Orbán’s 16-year rule comes to an end.

According to data from the Hungarian national election office, 74 percent of registered voters had cast their ballots by 5 p.m., already outpacing the final turnout of preceding elections. In the previous parliamentary election in 2022, turnout stood at about 63 percent at the same time.

POLITICO’s Poll of Polls projects a comfortable lead for Orbán’s challenger, Péter Magyar, and his center-right Tisza party. But polls have also diverged significantly and in Hungary’s electoral system, vote shares don’t necessarily equal final political weight.

FatFarter69 on April 12nd, 2026 at 11:47 UTC »

Best of luck to my Hungarian friends from the UK, authoritarianism has no place in Europe.

uuggehor on April 12nd, 2026 at 10:02 UTC »

Remember to vote. The turnout needs to stay high. Inaction empowers the oppressors.

mystic_cheese on April 12nd, 2026 at 09:26 UTC »

I know nothing about the other guy, but I do know Orban has to go.