German far right gives guarded reaction to poll defeat for Orbán

The far-right party in the German parliament, Alternative for Germany (AfD), reacted cautiously to the emphatic defeat of Hungary's right-wing populist Prime Minister Viktor Orbán in Sunday's national elections.

The AfD has many policy positions in common with Orbán's Fidesz party, including on migration. Furthermore, party leader Alice Weidel met Orbán in Budapest last year shortly before the German parliamentary elections.

The foreign policy spokesman for the AfD parliamentary group, Markus Frohnmaier, wrote on the platform X on Monday that the result "refutes the claim that Hungary is an authoritarian-run state."

"We hope that the election winner will stick to a restrictive migration policy, will not bow to centralism from Brussels and will not help to continue to bankroll Ukraine with European funds," he added.

The deputy parliamentary group leader Beatrix von Storch expressed similar views, defending Orbán as a "committed democrat" because he congratulated election winner and prime minister-in-waiting Péter Magyar.

"Hungary is a functioning democracy despite all the defamation," she wrote.