A new publication by Andrea Szabó, András Bozóki, and Zoltán Gábor Szűcs has been published  Democracy Seminar , in which the researchers characterize the 2026 parliamentary elections using the concept of an “electoral revolution.”

The researchers understand electoral revolution as a non-violent, democratizing political change that occurs via elections, or (in case of incumbent malfeasance or illegal resistance to the popular will) it is strongly related to elections. In electoral autocracies, citizens must effectively be involved in a broad campaign to mobilize society. Electoral revolutions might bring completely new political parties or party coalitions to power. Not simply power relations are reconfigured, but a new era emerges with the promise of a better system: democracy.

Hungary turned into an electoral autocracy by 2018 (according to the Democracy Report of V-Dem) showing the steepest democratic decline in a global wave of autocratization. In 2026, however, the Tisza party won with an unprecedented landslide and became one of the only three surviving parties in the Hungarian parliament.  According to the researchers, the result and the record voter turnout suggest that people overwhelmingly cast their votes in favor of change. The election was therefore a conscious revolutionary act aimed at a democratizing change of regime.

The full article is available at Democracy Seminar