Vienna, April 12, 2026 \u2013 Today is election day in Hungary. After 16 years in power, Viktor Orb\u00e1n faces the toughest election of his career. The counting is underway. The tension is palpable.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
What is at stake<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n For Hungary: An opportunity for the rule of law, freedom of the press, an independent judiciary. Things that have been systematically dismantled over the last 16 years.<\/p>\n\n\n\n For the EU: A Hungary without Orb\u00e1n would end the chronic blockades in the Council. Aid to Ukraine, sanctions against Russia, enlargement policy \u2013 all of this would become easier.<\/p>\n\n\n\n For populism in Europe: An \u00d6rban overthrow would be a signal. That illiberal democracy is not a one-way street. That voters can also back down.<\/p>\n\n\n\n But be careful<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n Orb\u00e1n has reshaped the electoral system to his advantage. Gerrymandering, media control, intimidation of the opposition \u2013 these are not small advantages. Even if the opposition gets more votes, Orb\u00e1n could win through the system.<\/p>\n\n\n\n And even if he loses: His system won't disappear overnight. The institutions are tailored to him. Untangling it will take years.<\/p>\n\n\n\n The Two Sides of Power<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n Orb\u00e1n has never claimed to be a democrat \u2013 he has openly advocated for illiberal democracy. That was more honest than many of his critics want to admit. The question isn't whether Orb\u00e1n is good or bad. The question is: What comes next?<\/p>\n\n\n\n YANUS will report the election results as soon as they are available.<\/em><\/p>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" For the first time in 16 years, Viktor Orb\u00e1n is facing the prospect of losing power. What does this mean for the EU, for<\/p>","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":652,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"colormag_page_container_layout":"default_layout","colormag_page_sidebar_layout":"default_layout","advanced_seo_description":"","jetpack_seo_html_title":"","jetpack_seo_noindex":false,"jetpack_seo_schema_type":"","_jetpack_feature_clip_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"{title}\n\n{excerpt}\n\nMehr lesen: {url}\n\n{tags}\n#YANUS","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":false,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2},"_wpas_customize_per_network":false},"categories":[1,19,33],"tags":[54,55,41],"class_list":["post-648","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-europa","category-politik","category-welt","tag-europa","tag-politik","tag-world"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/yanus.at\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/04\/pexels-bianca-jelezniac-38713659-9330289-scaled.jpg","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/yanus.at\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/648","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/yanus.at\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/yanus.at\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/yanus.at\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/yanus.at\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=648"}],"version-history":[{"count":5,"href":"https:\/\/yanus.at\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/648\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":2572,"href":"https:\/\/yanus.at\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/648\/revisions\/2572"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/yanus.at\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/652"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/yanus.at\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=648"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/yanus.at\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=648"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/yanus.at\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=648"}],"curies":[{"name":"WP","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}