Rob Schmitz

Vance held up his cell phone so the U.S.

president could speak to the crowd.

I love Hungary, and I love that Victor.

I'll tell you, he's a fantastic man.

We've had a tremendous relationship.

During his 16 years in power, Orban has been the architect of a style of governance known as illiberal democracy, one where key democratic institutions like the judiciary, the free press, and civil society have been methodically weakened, but where citizens still retain the right to vote.

Timothy Gartnash is a professor of European Studies at Oxford University and describes Orban as a disruptive force who blocked European assistance to Ukraine, worked to water down sanctions on Moscow, and presented Ukraine, not Russia, as the principal threat to Europe's security.

But even as Orban consolidated power and played on Europe's weaknesses, familiar problems plagued his government and helped propel voters to push for change.

Zsuzsanna Weg is a political analyst at the German Marshall Fund.

A big factor in this election was also a growing narrative around the Hungarian government's corruption.

45-year-old Petter Magyar, the leader of the opposition party TISA, ran on an anti-corruption ticket.

He promised to invest the money he said lined the pockets of Orban's inner circle into Hungary's crumbling healthcare and education systems.

Many young people known as Generation Orbán voted for the first time on Sunday.

27-year-old Yulia Molnar said she was deeply frustrated with systemic corruption.

Consider this.

An election in a country of just 9 million people about the population of New Jersey may have just shown the world a path towards the center after a period of right-wing populist rule.

From NPR, I'm Rob Schmitz.

It's Consider This from NPR.

Viktor Orban's leadership in Hungary has been a model of right-wing nationalist populism that's been a point of fascination for politicians around the world, including those in the Trump administration.

But Orban's defeat in Sunday's election shows that style, with its efforts to control the judiciary and media, has now seen new limitations.