Viktor Orbán Steps Back from Public Life After Election Defeat

Former Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orbán has effectively withdrawn from active public life following his party's defeat in April's parliamentary elections. According to political analyst Andrea Virágová, speaking to nepszava.hu, the 63-year-old politician is no longer thinking about a return to power, but rather about who should gradually take over leadership of the Fidesz party.

The outlet notes that although Fidesz's June congress formally reconfirmed Orbán as party chairman, it remains unclear who is actually running the party's affairs day to day. Virágová believes Fidesz is currently in poor shape, having failed to develop any coherent strategy for how to handle an election loss.

Exhaustion and Emptiness After the Defeat

Orbán himself admitted after April's crushing loss that he felt exhausted, hurt, and hollow inside. Following the election, he chose not to take up his seat in the new parliament.

The plan had originally been for former ministers Péter Szijjártó, János Lázár and Gergely Gulyás to carry the Fidesz banner in parliament. However, within a few weeks Szijjártó and Lázár had given up their mandates, and Gulyás stepped down as head of the Fidesz parliamentary group.

The End of a Sixteen-Year Era

In Hungary's April parliamentary elections, the Tisza party won a decisive victory, and Péter Magyar became the country's new prime minister. This brought to a close sixteen years of Orbán-led governments.

Source: novinky.cz