Orban re-elected as Fidesz party leader in Hungary despite election loss
BUDAPEST, June 13 (Reuters) – Hungary’s main opposition party Fidesz elected former Prime Minister Viktor Orban as leader for another year on Saturday, despite the party losing power in elections against the centre-right Tisza party on April 12.
Nationalist Orban, 62, has inspired right-wing conservatives in Europe and the United States as the originator of what he calls the “illiberal” model of democracy.
Orban’s political future came into question after Fidesz’s defeat and he faced pressure from some former loyalists to withdraw from politics, the first such open criticism since he came to power in 2010.
According to state news agency MTI, 729 out of 737 delegates at Fidesz’s party congress voted for Orban’s re-election. There were no rivals competing against him.
In his speech at the congress before the vote, Orban said, “I am not giving up, I will never, never, never, never, never give up,” and reiterated that the party took full responsibility for the election defeat.
Orban said Fidesz had been a “great ruling party” for 16 years but needed to make changes to become a functional opposition party that would be ready to rule again.
In the April elections, Prime Minister Peter Magyar’s Tisza party won a two-thirds parliamentary majority, enough to reverse Orban’s constitutional changes.
According to opinion polls, Fidesz has lost support since the election. A poll conducted by the Publicus Institute in May showed Tisza receiving 55% support, down from the 53% he achieved in the election, while support for Fidesz fell from 39% to 17%.
(Reporting by Anita Komuves, Editing by Gareth Jones)
