Partly due to the popularity of an offshoot of his Party, Tucker Carlson’s second favorite European strongman Viktor Orban saw his ruling Fidesz Party take less than 50% of the votes for Hungary’s seats in the European Parliament for the first time in twenty years, Politico reports.
The Tisza Party, led by former Fidesz member and Orban insider Péter Magyar, took more than 30% of the vote, with Fidesz able to secure only 44%. Tisza is a relatively new Party in Hungary, having formed in 2021 with a small group of support, but after Magyar took of the group’s cause of forming a grassroots, third-party movement to challenge the Fidesz-dominated two-party system in this year’s elections, membership skyrocketed.
In reality, Tisza was a necessary sponsor for Magyar to get on the ballot, and it gave him a signal boost going into the election. The support for Tisza’s political message, however, appears to be solid and widespread across Hungary thanks to the boost Magyar gave it, and that’s not something Orban can tolerate.