BUDAPEST-- Hungarians on June 10 are awaiting the results from the crucial European Parliament and municipal elections, as initial figures showed signs of weakness for authoritarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban and his right-wing Fidesz party amid a major challenge to their nearly-15-year grip on power.
Early results put Fidesz and its allies at 44.2 percent in the European Parliament voting, with Peter Magyar's center-right Tisza party second at 30 percent -- a result that, if confirmed, would be far higher than preelection surveys suggested.
Still, Orban hailed his party's victory following the vote.
"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," Orban said, according to AP.
Elections officials reported record high turnout, with more than 57 percent of registered voters casting ballots at 10,199 polling stations.
Orban's Fidesz party was facing one its strongest challenges since gaining power, with Magyar, a lawyer and onetime Orban ally, having gained an increasing number of supporters since coming into prominence this year as a critic of the prime minister's government.
After polls closed, the 43-year-old Magyar told supporters that his party's strong result marked “the end of an era. Today, the future has begun in Hungary.”
Magyar -- founder of the new Respect And Freedom (Tisza) party -- said in a Facebook post that the party was confident it had achieved a "historic" result, even if it didn't come out on top this time.
"We will see historic figures, which will provide a very good basis for taking back our homeland step by step, brick by brick, in the next parliamentary election," he said.
In comments to the BBC, Magyar said: “We have a new situation. A new opposition party able to defeat this government at the next general election in Hungary.”
He later told a news conference that Tisza will accept the results -- no matter how "disgusting it is that the governing parties spend tens of billions on propaganda."
SEE ALSO: Hungary's EU, Local Polls Are A Test For Orban's 'Sovereignty' ClampdownOrban's Fidesz party is not affiliated with any group in the European Parliament, but it hoped to benefit in the election from a rise in far-right sentiment across the continent. The number of far-right lawmakers in the European Parliament increased sharply after the vote, according to initial projections.
However, Fidesz is projected to get 11 seats, down from 13.
Magyar's party has presented itself as a more centrist alternative to Orban's brand of illiberal populism and is likely to gain about seven seats in the EU legislature.
Magyar has said he will join the center-right European People's Party (EPP), which is set to be the largest grouping in the European Parliament.
Orban has angered many leaders in the European Union with his authoritarian policies, his opposition to aiding Ukraine, and his close ties to Russian President Vladimir Putin.
Orban, however, has claimed that casting ballots for the opposition would draw Hungary directly into the war in neighboring Ukraine and precipitate a global armed conflict.
WATCH: RFE/RL asked voters in Budapest about the ruling Fidesz party's campaign suggesting that its political rivals would draw Hungary into war.
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Can EU Elections Make 'Peace'? Hungarian Voters Divided Over Government Campaign
Support for Fidesz in the latest pre-election polls ranged from 44 to 48 percent. Tisza party had 23 to 29 percent -- but many observers say Fidesz's victory was not assured, given the strong showing for a movement that only came into being a few months ago.
Gabor Toka, a research professor at Central European University and author of the Vox Populi election guide, told RFE/RL before the vote that surveys may not be totally accurate and that pollsters "ask people who respond in one way but may not vote accordingly later."
"There are many people who decide at the last minute who they will vote for.
"When the political situation really changes from week to week, it is of great importance exactly when the snapshot -- i.e. the survey -- was taken," he said.
Election posters line the streets in Budapest for the June 9 municipal and EU Parliament elections in Hungary.
The election was also a test for the controversial Sovereignty Protection Office (SZH), established in February and which has waded into the campaign to publicly denigrate individuals and groups and criminalize candidates over accusations of foreign funding and influence.
"This agency is all set up to prevent nasty surprises for Orban in the upcoming elections," Kim Lane Scheppele, a Princeton University professor and expert on authoritarian regimes and Hungarian politics and law, told RFE/RL.
Orban said victory in the elections "is needed" and predicted that Fidesz would receive "reinforcements" from every European country and be able to form a pro-peace European coalition in Brussels.
He also commented on the U.S. presidential election, saying that Americans in November will have "a chance to elect a pro-peace president," referring to presumptive Republican presidential nominee Donald Trump.
Orban, who has repeatedly said Ukraine cannot win, said the war "has no solution on the battlefield" and reiterated his call for negotiations to end the full-scale invasion Russia launched in 2022.
SEE ALSO: Reporter's Notebook: On The Campaign Trail With Peter Magyar, The New Star Of Hungary's OppositionMagyar, a longtime political insider in the Fidesz party, has served in the Foreign Ministry and in Hungary's permanent representation to the EU. Until 2023, he was married to Judit Varga, a prominent Fidesz member and the former justice minister.
He gained attention in February when his ex-wife became embroiled in a case in which a man was pardoned after being found guilty of being an accomplice in a case involving child sexual assault.
The scandal claimed the political careers of the president, Katalin Novak, and Varga, who announced that she was retiring from political life.
SEE ALSO: The Former Insider Out To Rid Hungary Of Corruption And OrbanMagyar in early May told supporters that changes were coming to the country that current leaders will be unable to prevent.
"Change can be stopped for a few days, a few weeks, but no one in history has ever stopped it and neither can they," Magyar said on May 4.