Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orbán has conceded defeat in a key election, ending 16 years in power.

Prime Minister of Hungary Viktor Orbán it is expected to lose in the national elections, while the leader of the opposition Peter Magyar will win in the parliament. It is a negative result in an election that is considered to be the most consequential in Europe this year.

Orbán, the European Union’s longest-serving leader and longtime ally of President Trump, conceded defeat on Sunday night after what he called a “painful” election result, ending 16 years in power.

“I congratulate the winning team,” Orbán told the Budapest crowd. “We will work for the Hungarian nation and our country and the opposition parties.”

In a Facebook post on Sunday, Magyar said Orbán confessed to him on the phone. “Prime Minister Viktor Orbán just congratulated me on the phone for our victory,” Magyar wrote.

With 77% of the votes counted, Magyar’s party had the support of 53% to 38% of Orbán’s ruling Fidesz party.

Speaking to his supporters early Sunday evening, Magyar said about 6 million Hungarians voted in Sunday’s election, in a country of just over 9 million people.

Magyar said that despite receiving thousands of reports of election tampering, he has “high hopes” of victory.

With the Parliament building in the background, huge crowds waving the Hungarian flag gathered at the Tisza election results party near the Danube river and celebrated the expected Magyar win.

“We are celebrating because this is a moment that will go down in history, in the history of Hungary, that this regime, this system is broken … I think this is a celebration of democracy,” a Budapest resident in the crowd told CBS News.

Independent monitors and European Union officials have accused Orbán’s government of launching an attack on the country’s democratic institutions and the rule of law since then. In 16 years since he took over in 2010, the country dropped to the rank of the most corrupt country in the European Union, according to the UK-based anti-corruption group Transparency International.

At a polling station in Budapest on Sunday, CBS News spoke to a number of voters, all of whom said they voted for Magyar and his centrist Tisza party.

“Orban is very against the EU and Russia, and I think that associating himself, in my opinion, with a war criminal, is not right for the country of Hungary,” said the 21-year-old who calls himself only Daniel.

Casting his vote in Budapest on Sunday, Marcell Mehringer, 21, told the Associated Press that he was voting “mainly so that Hungary can finally be a country called Europe, and so that young people, and everyone, can do their civic duty to unite this nation a little bit and break these hateful borders.”

Orbán has been one of Mr. Trump the world’s closest allies since the first American president was elected in 2016. The relationship deepened between the two men in the last ten years. The partnership between the Trump administration and Orbán was on full display when Vice President JD Vance publicly campaigned alongside the Hungarian leader in Budapest last week.

European leaders reacted to the results

After Orbán’s approval, European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen said in a post on X: “The heart of Europe is beating strongly in Hungary tonight.”

“Hungary has chosen Europe. Europe has always chosen Hungary. Together, we are strong. The country is regaining its European way. The Union is growing stronger,” he wrote in another post.

German Chancellor Friedrich Merz on Sunday offered “heartfelt congratulations” to Magyar.

“I look forward to working with you,” Merz said on the X website, adding: “Let’s work together to have a strong, secure and, above all, united Europe.”

French President Emmanuel Macron conveyed his congratulations, saying he spoke with Magyar after the win.

“France congratulates the victory of democracy, the adherence of the Hungarian people to the principles of the European Union, and Hungary in Europe,” he wrote in X. “Together, we will make Europe sovereign, for the security of our continent, our competitiveness and our democracy.”

Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez praised Hungary’s results as a winner of “European heritage.”

“Congratulations to all Hungarian citizens on the historic election,” wrote X. “We look forward to working together, @magyarpeterMP, for a better future for all Europeans.”

British Prime Minister Keir Starmer said the election results were “a historic moment, not only for Hungary, but for European democracy.”

“I look forward to working with you for the security and development of both our countries,” he wrote to X.