With nearly 90% of the votes counted, Fidesz came out on top at 44%, but well down from the 52% it won in the last EU elections in 2019.

Amid a record high voter turnout of around 60%, the Tisza party of Peter Magyar – who has emerged as Orban’s main challenger – managed to gain about 30% of the vote.

Describing the EU vote as “an all European pro-peace or pro-war election” as the war in Ukraine rages on, Orban insisted Hungarians had “clearly sent out a message that they want peace”.

The 61-year-old nationalist premier is increasingly stoking fears of a war between the West and Russia, which he blames on Brussels and Nato.

As Moscow’s closest EU ally since Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, Orban has refused to send weapons to Kyiv while blocking European military aid.

“Today we have defeated the old opposition, today we have defeated the new opposition, and… we will defeat it again and again,” Orban told supporters in Budapest.

But his opponent Magyar, a 43-year-old former government insider, also hailed Sunday’s results.

“What is apparent is that this is now the Waterloo of the Orban power factory, the beginning of the end,” he told supporters.

Magyar has drawn huge crowds at recent rallies by railing against a “system” firmly under the control of Orban, who is the EU’s longest-serving leader.

The self-declared conservative shot to prominence earlier this year following a child abuse pardon scandal that shook Orban’s government in an unprecedented way.

Nearly eight million voters were called to the polls on Sunday in Hungary.

Ahead of the elections, Orban – a frequent and harsh critic of Brussels – has vowed to “occupy Brussels”.

The elections saw striking gains for the far-right in several European countries.