We are ending our live coverage now of a stunning today in Hungarian politics, 13 hours of voting which brough a resounding end to 16 years of Viktor Orbán as head of government and ushered in Péter Magyar as the country's next prime minister.
And it appears Hungarians themselves recognised the importance of the vote. At around 6:30 pm local time, the election commission reported a voter turnout of just over 77%, setting a new record in Hungarian election history.
In a fiery speech to rowdy supporters in central Budapest, Magyar gave some idea of what his government’s priorities will be, promising to again be a strong EU and NATO ally, vowing to restore the system of checks and balances and telling “Orbán’s puppets” to leave office.
Outgoing Prime Minister Viktor Orbán accepted the decision, saying the days ahead are about “healing wounds” and promising to still serve Hungary in opposition.
Leaders from across Europe were swift to take to X to send messages of congratulations to Magyar in what some may well interpret as a collective sigh of relief at the prospect of a new government.
What happens next of course will be up to Magyar and his as yet unnamed cabinet, a group of people who have a lot of work ahead of them.
Euronews will of course be tracking all of these developments and bringing you all the details you need to know. For now though, let's leave a sizeable proportion of Hungarians to party what little remains of the weekend.
