BUDAPEST — Hungary’s anti-immigration populist premier Viktor Orban was set for a third straight term on Monday after a crushing election victory, delighting other nationalists but likely causing unease in some other EU members.

Addressing cheering supporters in Budapest late on Sunday, Orban called the result a “destiny-deciding victory” which would give Hungarians “the opportunity to defend themselves and to defend Hungary”.

Orban’s Fidesz party won around 49 percent of the vote, an improvement on its score from four years ago and which may even gift it a two-thirds majority in parliament, which would enable it to change the constitution.

Some other EU members are likely to view Orban’s renewed internal dominance with trepidation, given his repeated run-ins with Brussels institutions over his hardline anti-immigration policies and rejection of the EU’s refugee resettlement program, as well as his moves to clamp down on civil society groups.

Meanwhile, German Chancellor Angela Merkel has congratulated Orban on his election victory, a German government spokesman said on Monday, adding that she would work with his new government despite differences on migration.

“As is customary after elections in Europe, the chancellor congratulated the election winner, Prime Minister Orban, on his success in the Hungarian parliamentary elections in a letter,” government spokesman Steffen Seibert said.

“It is quite obvious that there are also controversial issues in our cooperation, the different stances in migration policy come to mind,” Seibert added.

In contrast to Merkel’s guarded response, German Interior Minister Horst Seehofer welcomed the election victory of Orban, and urged the European Union to drop what he called a “policy of arrogance and condencence” toward smaller members like Hungary.

Seehofer, a member of the CSU Bavarian conservative sister party of Chancellor Angela Merkel’s Christian Democrats and longtime backer of Orban, said the election results proved how much support Orban enjoyed among the Hungarian population.

He advised the EU to pursue more “reasonable” relations with Hungary and other smaller member states.

“I have always considered it wrong — this policy of arrogance and condescension in regard to individual member states,” Seehofer told reporters before a meeting of the CSU leadership.

European Commission President Jean-Claude Juncker was expected to write to Orban on Monday to congratulate him on his election victory on Sunday, the European Commission said.

“President Juncker will also call Prime Minister Orban tomorrow to discuss issues of common interest,” a spokesman for the EU executive told a regular press briefing.

“The people of Hungary have voted yesterday and the European Union is a union of democracy and values,” the spokesman added.

“President Juncker and the Commission feel that defending these principles and defending these values is the common duty of all member states with no exception.”

Orban has frequently challenged the Brussels executive and his sweeping election victory is expected to strengthen his hand in opposing, for example, some elements of EU refugee policy.

However, nationalists and those on the far-right who admire Orban’s strident brand of identity politics and claims to be a protector of “Christian Europe” will take comfort in the result.

In his victory speech on Sunday night, Orban himself thanked Jaroslaw Kaczynski, leader of Poland’s governing PiS party, for his support.

Poland and Hungary see each other as key allies in their battles with EU institutions.

French far-right leader Marine Le Pen and her Dutch counterpart Geert Wilders were quick to tweet their congratulations once results became clear.

The poll has confirmed Orban’s unchallenged authority domestically and exposed the continuing weakness and disarray of the opposition.

Fidesz’s nearest challenger Jobbik, a far-right party that has recently moved towards the political center, polled just under 20 percent.

“Fidesz effectively mobilized in the last days on the countryside, the opposition seriously underperformed, far below its expectations,” Daniel Hegedus, research adviser at the Freedom House think-tank, said.

“Hungarian voters changed the opposition, not the government,” he said. — Agencies