Indeed. I was surprised by that as well and would be curious to know the reason for it. I take it, that his grip of state power was not total enough to just ignore such a devastating election mandate against him. But he conceded already before even much of the votes were even counted. Even in functioning democracies we had for example Schröder who was trying to cling to power like a dictator but was trashed within days for doing so.

I can think of several reasons. Maybe in Orbans morphed reality he was indeed a man of the people and his almost total media domination convinced himself of his own lies. Seeing the election result maybe he was authentically shocked and hit by the reality check. More likely might be that Orban is retreating now without resistance to give the floor to his opponent, knowing that the situation of Hungary is challenging, he might plan to get back to power next elections, after possibly unpopular, necessary, reforms by Tisza. He might be playing the long game. Or maybe he just calls his losses collects the fortune he stole from the Hungarian people (and European citizens at large as well) and prepares his retirement in Russia with all that fortune.