BUDAPEST, Hungary — Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orbán's nationalist party took the most votes in Sunday's European Parliament elections but sharply underperformed its past dominance in a race that pitted the long-serving leader against a new challenger that has upended Orbán's grip on Hungarian politics.
With 85% of votes counted, Orbán's Fidesz party had 44% of the vote, enough to send 11 delegates of Hungary's 21 total seats in the European Union's legislature.
While Fidesz took a plurality of votes, it was down sharply from 52% support in 2019 EU elections and looked set to lose two seats in what was widely seen as a referendum on Orbán's popularity.
Still, while speaking to supporters at a party event Sunday, Orbán claimed victory over his opponents.
''Today we defeated the old opposition, the new opposition, and no matter what the opposition will be called the next time, we will defeat them again and again,'' he said.
Preliminary results showed that more than 57% of eligible voters cast a ballot, setting a record for participation in an EU election in Hungary.
While Fidesz has dominated Hungarian politics since 2010, many are deeply dissatisfied with how it has governed the country. A deep economic crisis and a recent series of scandals involving Fidesz politicians have rocked the party which prides itself on upholding family values and Christian conservatism.
Those factors led to the emergence of one of the most formidable challengers Orbán has ever faced, Péter Magyar, who broke ranks with Orbán's party in February and in a matter of months built up Hungary's strongest opposition party.