Hungary's Viktor Orbán Concedes Defeat in Election(www.wsj.com)
63 pointsby JumpCrisscross7 hours ago11 comments
  • Scipio_Afri17 minutes ago
    Why is this and all other posts about this flagged?
  • biesnecker6 hours ago
    Good riddance.
  • tetrisgm4 hours ago
    Congratulations! Also excellent future for the EU and Ukraine
  • shevy-java6 hours ago
    The results were quite clear. About 2/3 voted someone else, roughly. I think this was also the primary reason why Orban congratulated quickly.
  • iammjm7 hours ago
    Big win for democracy. Not even 16 years of Orban and russian-, trumpian-, and technofascist interference could kill it. quite amazing actually
    • stefs6 hours ago
      yes - i am so relieved. this was a real conundrum for the EU - booting hungary out would have been a huge problem (i.e. opening the door for a russian stronghold right in its mid), but keeping orban in would mean the a) abuse continued and b) it would send a signal to others that this is a winning strategy.

      democracy may suffer from the problem that it allows the election of anti-democratic autocrats but it seems that it's definitely able to come back from the brink, even if the deck's stacked against it. i wonder what message it sends to the other countries.

    • harladsinsteden6 hours ago
      It almost makes you think there is still some good left in the world.
    • kakacik6 hours ago
      Certainly an excellent news. What puzzles me that he managed to stay in power for 4 periods, despite behaving very consistently - subverting EU, de facto being russian spy, stealing EU dotations, led Hungary to stagnation. Yet people kept voting him in.

      Exactly same story as just north from it, Fico in Slovakia is a tragedy for that nation and he keeps winning the votes.

      So great news, for now.

  • cantalopes6 hours ago
    Hell yes
  • kolinko6 hours ago
    "ally of President Trump" -- more like an ally of Putin?
    • layer86 hours ago
      One doesn’t exclude the other.
    • kakacik6 hours ago
      Both. Both are allies too. Are you not watching the news for past decade?

      Also, DJ vance was lobbing for him righr before elections in some local gatherings during his visot few days ago. So much for not interfering.

    • highpost6 hours ago
      you can be both.
  • pessimizer6 hours ago
    Not much of a dictatorship if the dictator concedes defeat after an election that was possible for him to lose.
    • EGreg6 hours ago
      True, it's not so much a dictatorship, more like just a certain type of mindset. Shared by Trump, Vance (I guess), Elon, and the AfD party, Le Pen (maybe) and more.

      What do we call this mindset? Right wing authoritarianism? Anti-immigrant sentiment? Poland next door to Hungary is also very anti-immigrant and proud of it (everyone from Duda onwards).

      • matusp6 hours ago
        Illiberal democracy
  • oulipo26 hours ago
    Good news, now let's rid the rest of Europe and the world of fascists and authoritarians
  • jauntywundrkind6 hours ago
    Also a right wing former insider of the regime, but one that seemingly is turning has back on the regime authoritarianism & exploitation that has characterized the right's ascent worldwide. At least has shown some backbone, respect, decency, & is tired of the world burners, that believe in their vicious nasty strongmen, who seem intent only on grifting, tearing things down, and inflaming tensions.

    Amazingly frank talk from Peter: https://telex.hu/belfold/2024/02/10/magyar-peter-varga-judit...

    I really appreciate this comedic take from Bluesky:

    > analogy for the America brained is like if the Dems lost to Trump four times in a row and then ran Mitt Romney to save the country and won crazy supermajorities and also Mitt Romney was named Johnny America https://bsky.app/profile/michaelcaley.bsky.social/post/3mjd2...