Lessons from Hungary’s vote and Orbán’s defeat

Hungarian voters have swept their far-right strongman Viktor Orbán out of office, ending his 16-year run as Prime Minister and electoral autocrat. Here are six lessons the world can take from them.

First, an illiberal democracy can be ousted in elections. Mr. Orbán prepared the model for what he called ‘illiberal democracy’ (or electoral autocracy), emulated by many others including Donald Trump and Narendra Modi. Such regimes create an impression of the Great Leader’s unstoppable popularity and electoral invincibility — or what we may call the ‘aayega to Orbán hi’ effect. This produces apathy: voting is either a display of fealty, or an exercise in futility.