Hungary’s high-stakes election on Sunday, 12 April, brought a result that few had expected: the opposition Tisza Party, led by former Fidesz insider Péter Magyar, secured a landslide victory, winning a supermajority with 138 seats in the 199-seat parliament, bringing an end to Prime Minister Viktor Orbán and the Fidesz–KDNP alliance’s 16-year rule.
While Tisza won most constituencies with commanding margins as Fidesz’s support collapsed nationwide, several districts were decided by extremely narrow margins—some by fewer than 200 votes between opposition and government candidates. Below are three of the closest races.
Zala 02
The western Hungarian county of Zala saw the closest race nationwide. In the Zala 02 (Keszthely) constituency, opposition candidate Balázs Varga won with 24,977 votes (46.26 per cent), narrowly ahead of Fidesz–KDNP’s Bálint Nagy, who received 24,918 votes (46.15 per cent). With fewer than 100 votes separating the two candidates, the result is expected to trigger an automatic recount.
The opposition flipped the constituency, where Bálint Nagy had won by a large margin in 2022, securing more than 30,000 votes—around 15,000 more than the united opposition candidate at the time.
Nagy represented a classic Fidesz local strongman in rural Hungary, serving as mayor of Keszthely—the largest town in the constituency—between 2019 and 2022. After 2022, he served as State Secretary at the Ministry of Construction and Transportation.
Balázs Varga, by contrast, was a less institutionalized local candidate who campaigned on three main issues: protecting the touristically important Lake Balaton and Lake Hévíz, halting the depopulation of small towns, and modernizing infrastructure, both in transportation and healthcare.
Turnout in the district reached 80.11 per cent, slightly above the national average of 79.56 per cent—a record in Hungary’s post-communist history.
Tolna 03
Tolna 03 (Paks) is a symbolically significant district, as it is home to one of the Orbán government’s key strategic energy investments: the expansion of the Paks nuclear power plant (Paks II). The project has faced criticism from Western Europe due to Russian involvement in both technology and financing. The existing plant currently provides around one-third of Hungary’s electricity consumption, a figure expected to rise significantly upon completion of the expansion.
The constituency was won by Fidesz–KDNP candidate János Süli, who secured 19,476 votes (46.53 per cent), finishing just 138 votes ahead of Tisza candidate Tamás Cseh. In 2022 Süli won a landslide victory with 62.89 per cent (25,102 votes), beating the united opposition candidate by more than 10,000 votes.
‘The future of Paks II, however, is uncertain following Tisza’s landslide victory’
Süli is a veteran Fidesz politician. He served as mayor of Paks from 2010 to 2017, and between 2017 and 2022 he was minister without portfolio responsible for the Paks II project, closely associated with its planning and political management. He earned the nickname ‘Mr Paks II’ and is considered one of the more technocratic figures within Fidesz.
The future of Paks II, however, is uncertain following Tisza’s landslide victory. The party campaigned on achieving full independence from Russian energy by 2035 and pledged to conduct a comprehensive review of the project.
Turnout in Tolna 03 reached 77.55 per cent, slightly below the national average.
Szabolcs-Szatmár-Bereg 06
Fidesz–KDNP candidate Miklós Simon won re-election in the Szabolcs-Szatmár-Bereg 06 (Nyírbátor) constituency, securing 22,944 votes (46.99 per cent), just 174 votes more than Tisza candidate Tímea Barna-Szabó. In 2022, Simon had won by a landslide, receiving more than 29,000 votes (65.69 per cent), around 15,000 more than his opponent.
The district has long represented what is often seen as the backbone of Fidesz–KDNP’s consecutive majorities: a more rural, less developed region where local party representatives are deeply embedded in community networks. Simon has held the seat since 2014 with strong support, making him one of the most well-known MPs in eastern Hungary.
By 2026, however, Szabolcs 06 had become highly competitive, illustrating how Fidesz’s support eroded even in its traditional strongholds, contributing to the opposition’s supermajority.
Turnout in the district stood at 73.91 per cent, below the national average, with some villages falling under 60 per cent—highlighting potential mobilization challenges among Fidesz–KDNP voters.
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