Orbán calls for 'complete renewal' of Fidesz after landslide election loss

The defeat ended Orbán’s consecutive hold on government dating to 2010 and raised immediate questions about whether he would also relinquish his decades-long role as Fidesz party president — a position he has held almost without interruption since the early 1990s.

BUDAPEST — Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orbán said Thursday that his populist-nationalist Fidesz party requires a “complete renewal” after its landslide defeat in Sunday’s parliamentary election, which delivered a two-thirds majority in Parliament to center-right challenger Péter Magyar’s Tisza party and ended Orbán’s 16 years in power.

The defeat ended Orbán’s consecutive hold on the Hungarian government dating to 2010 and raised immediate questions about whether he would also relinquish his decades-long role as Fidesz party president — a position he has held almost without interruption since the early 1990s.

Speaking in an interview with a pro-Orbán YouTube channel, Orbán said that “a political era has ended” but indicated he would not step aside and was already working to rebuild within the party.

“It is more than having to change one position or two. We are in a situation where, in its former form, the right-wing community cannot continue to exist. A complete renewal is required,” Orbán said.

Orbán — a close ally of both U.S. President Donald Trump and Russian President Vladimir Putin — conceded defeat after describing the outcome as “painful.”

Transition timeline

Magyar, a former Orbán loyalist who campaigned against corruption and on everyday issues including health care and public transport, has pledged to rebuild Hungary’s relationships with the European Union and NATO, ties that frayed under Orbán. Magyar has pushed for the transfer of power to occur as quickly as possible.

Following a private consultation with Hungary’s president on Wednesday, Magyar told reporters the inaugural session of the new Parliament — where he is likely to be elected prime minister — would probably be scheduled for May 6 or 7.

Orbán’s reckoning

In his Thursday interview, Orbán said the night of the election had sent him on an “emotional roller coaster,” and that after the loss he had felt “pain and emptiness.”

“I too thought that we were going to win. There were so many of us everywhere,” he said.

Despite the defeat, Orbán noted that nearly 2.4 million people in the country of 9.5 million cast votes for Fidesz.

“Let’s not act like the whole country rejected our government,” he said.