Editorial - "The dictator" is leaving

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How long is it possible to promote oneself as the political antithesis of the "corrupt elite" while being exactly that? Hungary has provided an answer: 16 years. Last Sunday, the Hungarian people said to Viktor Orbán: "Enough". Despite accusations of rigging, bought votes, Kremlin-funded anti-EU posters and support from US Vice President Vance and Vladimir Putin, and even a planned fake assassination.

The election results were so clear that the dreaded Trump-like attempts to call the results into question were never realised. The two-thirds majority for Péter Magyar's Tisza party means that it can reverse Orbán's power-centred decrees.

There is great joy across Europe that this clog in the EU's wheel has been removed. Hungary has blocked countless initiatives over the past few years, including a 90 billion aid package for Ukraine. There have even been increasing accusations of espionage: Hungarian representatives are said to have passed on information to Russia during critical talks.

But the victory – and it is a victory that deserves to be celebrated – also has a sobering side. It shows how low our expectations have become, how far our democracies have fallen. Even voting out an openly corrupt, anti-EU autocrat who has been in power for decades counts as a big win. Minimum expectation: achieved. Open the champagne.