Orban and Vucic Broke With Trump’s Election Denial After Losing Votes
Leaders accepted election defeats
Orban and Vucic had cultivated favor with Trump and echoed claims about a “deep state” and shadowy foreign forces working against them. Yet both stepped back from denying defeat when voters turned against them.
Vucic accepted the result of Serbia’s Oct. 25 general election. Orban conceded six months earlier in Hungary. Their responses made Trump, who continues to say he won the 2020 election, an exception among like-minded leaders.
Concessions raised a wider question
The two leaders’ decisions highlighted the difference between accepting election results and denying them. They also renewed questions about whether candidates who lose close congressional races will concede or challenge the count.
The concern extended beyond the United States. Brazil held its recent presidential election on the same day as Serbia’s, and the losing Trump-backed candidate, Flávio Bolsonaro, alleged wrongdoing and called for the vote to be annulled.
Brazil comparison offered a contrast
Flávio Bolsonaro went to the United States rather than trying to mobilize supporters to overturn the result. His father, Jair Bolsonaro, had sought to do so after his own 2022 defeat, as Trump did two years earlier.
Key points
- Vucic accepted defeat in Serbia’s Oct. 25 general election.
- Orban conceded in Hungary six months before Vucic’s election.
- Both leaders had promoted conspiracy theories about forces seeking to remove them.
- Flávio Bolsonaro called for Brazil’s election result to be annulled, then went to the United States.