Hungarian PM Viktor Orban concedes defeat in European electoral earthquake

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By Justin Spike and Sam McNeil, Associated Press Hungarian voters ousted long-serving Prime Minister Viktor Orban on Sunday after 16 years in power. The result is seen as a rejection of the authoritarian policies and global right-wing movement that Mr Orban embodied, in favour of a pro-European challenger in a bombshell election result with global repercussions. Election victor Peter Magyar, a former loyalist of Mr Orban who campaigned against corruption and on everyday issues such as health care and public transport, has pledged to rebuild Hungary’s relationships with the European Union and Nato — ties that frayed under Mr Orban. European leaders quickly congratulated Mr Magyar. It is not yet clear whether Mr Magyar’s Tisza party will have the two-thirds majority in parliament to govern without a coalition. With 77% of the vote counted, it had more than 53% support to 38% for Mr Orban’s governing Fidesz party. It is a stunning blow for Mr Orban, a close ally of both US President...
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Mali backs Morocco’s plan for disputed Western Sahara, ending support for the Sahrawi Republic

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BY BABA AHMED AP

Mali on Friday backed Morocco’s plan to offer autonomy to Western Sahara but establish sovereignty over the disputed region, endorsing a plan to end a decades-long conflict between the Moroccan government and the indigenous Sahrawi people.

The Malian transitional government said Friday it was withdrawing its recognition of the pro-independence Sahrawi Arab Democratic Republic as part of its backing for the Moroccan plan, which has growing support from African allies, the Trump administration in the U.S. and most European Union members.

In a statement released by the Malian Ministry of Foreign Affairs, the government said “the Republic of Mali supports the autonomy plan proposed by Morocco as the only serious and credible basis for resolving this dispute and considers that genuine autonomy under Moroccan sovereignty is the most realistic solution.”

Western Sahara is a phosphate-rich stretch of coastal desert the size of Colorado that was under Spanish rule until 1975. It’s claimed by both Morocco and the Polisario Front, which operates out of refugee camps in southwestern Algeria and claims to represent the Sahrawi people indigenous to the disputed territory.

In October of 2025, the United Nations Security Council adopted a resolution placing Morocco’s proposed autonomy plan for Western Sahara at the center of efforts to resolve the conflict. The resolution does not determine the territory’s final status, but describes the Moroccan initiative as a “serious, credible, and realistic” basis for reaching a political solution.

The resolution referred to Morocco’s plan as a basis for negotiation. As with similar resolutions in previous years, the text made no mention of a referendum on self-determination that includes independence as an option, which is the solution long favored by the pro-independence Polisario Front and its allies, including Algeria, Russia, and China.



from The Times Of Earth https://ift.tt/UOTVc41

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