Katya Adler: Jubilation in Budapest will be felt in Europe but leaves Moscow cold

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European leaders share Hungarians' joy over the ousting of Vladimir Putin's EU ally, writes the BBC's Europe editor.

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Normally, it's a favourite spot for tourist selfies - but not this Sunday.

Following an historic election result that unceremoniously booted Prime Minister Viktor OrbΓ‘n out after 16 years in government, the bridge was lit up in green, white and red - the colours of the Hungarian flag.

Supporters of the triumphant PΓ©ter Magyar and his Tisza party said they felt they were getting their country back. A sense Magyar reflected back to them in his victory speech.

"We did it," he said. "We brought down the OrbΓ‘n regime - together we liberated Hungary. We took back our homeland! Thank you! Thank you all!"

There was a definite sense here that history was being made. Voter turnout was record-breaking. Despite OrbΓ‘n's iron grip on state media, the changes he introduced to the electoral system to favour his party and the huge influence his friends and family members have in positions of power in the "illiberal democracy" he said he turned Hungary into, the Fidesz leader was totally trounced at the polls.

I watched crowds of first-time voters dancing through Budapest's backstreets, drunk with a heady mix of hope and incredulity in the early hours of Monday morning.

"I cried when I put the X on my ballot paper," Zofia told me. "I still can't quite believe we did it. But we did!"

As Zofia spoke, her group of friends were loudly chanting "Russians Go home!"

It's an ironic full circle for OrbΓ‘n. He became famous in 1989 in then-communist Hungary, calling on Russians to go home in a passionate speech he gave in the dying days of the Soviet Union. It's a phrase that first ricocheted through Budapest during Hungary's ill-fated anti-communist uprising of 1956.

But over the years, OrbΓ‘n changed his political stripes. He moved further to the right, adopting an authoritarian edge, and throughout this election campaign, that slogan of

Source: BBC

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