Exactly. A lot of people thought Orban cannot be defeated in elections after ruling Hungary for 16 years straight, yet he just conceded. He had everything on his side: billions spent on state propaganda, intelligence services spying on opposition, Russian misinformation campaigns, gerrymandered districts, etc. But when 4 out of 5 people cast their votes, with a large part of them being against you, he probably thought he would rather give up peacefully than face the wrath of the nation.

Democracy works if we make it work. Voting is a big part ot it, but as you say, a lot of other things can be done in parallel.