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Fidesz party chairman and former Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orbán speaks with the press upon his arrival at the working congress of the opposition party Fidesz. Photo: Zoltan Mathe/MTI/AP/dpa
Keystone
Despite his defeat in the April parliamentary election, Hungary’s former Prime Minister Viktor Orbán remains chairman of his right-wing nationalist party, Fidesz. At a party convention in Budapest, 729 delegates voted for him, none against him, and eight abstained. His term as party leader is limited to one year. It is time for the “younger generation” to take the reins, the 63-year-old said in a speech at the party convention.
Orban also acknowledged that he bore the blame for the election defeat. He listed ten reasons for this, including the fact that the party had failed to refute the corruption allegations raised by the opposition party Tisza during the campaign.
By this fall, he aims to strengthen Fidesz through a grassroots reorganization to the point where effective work as an opposition party is guaranteed. “I never back down,” Orban emphasized. Fidesz also elected four new vice presidents.
The parliamentary election on April 12 was won by a landslide by political rising star Peter Magyar. His party, Tisza, secured a two-thirds majority in parliament, empowering it to fundamentally reshape the country’s politics, including constitutional amendments. This brought an end to the 16-year era of the right-wing populist Orban. He served as prime minister from 1998 to 2002 and again starting in 2010.
Opponents accused him of creating a hybrid system of rule with autocratic elements, dismantling the rule of law in Hungary, and undermining democracy. The European Union (EU) therefore froze billions of euros in funding. Orbán’s pro-Russian and anti-Ukraine stance also made the country an outsider within the EU.
13.06.2026, 21:23
