New Delhi, April 14 -- Hungarian opposition leader Peter Magyar spent most of his professional life moving comfortably within the political world built by Prime Minister Viktor Orban. On Sunday, he brought that system down.

The 45-year-old lawyer and leader of the opposition Tisza party has charted a meteoric political rise since bursting into public view in early 2024. He galvanized large numbers of voters across Hungary who gave him a powerful mandate in Sunday's election, ending Orban's 16-year grip on power.

"Together we liberated Hungary, we took back our country," Magyar told tens of thousands of his jubilant supporters at a victory party alongside the Danube River in Budapest, the country's capital, late on Sunday night.

"You ga...