Viktor Orbán's Hungarian experiment runs out of steam

He poured money into encouraging couples to have more children, but by 2025, the fertility rate had fallen back to 1.31 - the same number he inherited from the Socialists in 2010.The way he swiftly conceded defeat on Sunday night showed him with a strong eye on his image. He acted as a "majoritarian" democrat, meaning that he believed that "the winner takes all" - and that's how he acted in government.One year after winning a two-thirds majority in 2010, he wrote a new constitution. He reshaped Hungary in his own image, to suit his own party.With his two-thirds majority in parliament he pushed through one law after another, to change the structure of the courts, the electoral system, and the economy.But finally, on Sunday, the Hungarians decisively told him "we don't want to be experimented on any longer". Péter Magyar defeated him because he carried a Hungarian flag to every rally, because he proclaimed an inclusive, less exclusive national message, and perhaps above all because Hungarians felt exhausted by being constantly in conflict.And they disliked the way the rich got richer, the poor got poorer, and the middle classes shrank.Orbán often won his fights, but his people wanted peace and quiet. A normal country, but one with a voice.