Center-right Tisza’s victory in Hungary’s election shows that even a highly entrenched new-right regime can be defeated at the polls. But the myths, resentments, and paranoia that fueled popular support for Viktor Orbán’s brand of illiberalism have not suddenly vanished with his defeat.
VIENNA—The Hungarian opposition’s decisive victory over Prime Minister Viktor Orbán’s ruling Fidesz party has been greeted with relief across the democratic world. Armed with a constitutional majority, the center-right Tisza party and its leader, Péter Magyar, are now poised to dismantle Orbán’s 16-year grip on state institutions. What will be harder, however, is confronting the public demand for illiberal rule that sustained it.