Fidesz leadership declines Orbán's offer to step down as party chair

Fidesz’s Executive Board met on Tuesday morning in Budapest. Viktor Orbán, the president of Fidesz and outgoing Prime Minister, announced the day after the election—which was won by the Tisza Party with a two-thirds majority—that the party would reorganize and, as part of this process, the executive board wold hold a meeting on April 28.

As he was leaving the meeting, MEP Tamás Deutsch told Telex that they had discussed everything they had planned to, and described the meeting as “a very lively discussion”; adding that they will continue the discussion at the party congress on June 13, and will until then be holding talks at the local level.

According to Deutsch, Viktor Orbán said during the meeting that if the party has confidence in him, he will continue as Fidesz chairman; this will be decided at the congress.

Longtime MP Erik Bánki, who is now leaving politics, said that no personnel decisions had been made and that

Viktor Orbán had offered to resign as party chair, but his resignation was not accepted.

Ahead of the meeting, Viktor Orbán was one of the politicians who stopped to answer questions from the press and unusually for him, he took his time and gave everyone a chance to ask questions. The outgoing Prime Minister said he hadn’t yet thought about how he would make a living from now on, but he would give it some thought in May. With the election defeat, Orbán will soon find himself out of a job, and will be leaving parliamentary work after thirty-six years straight. From May onward, he will have to say goodbye to his salary of 7,58 million forints gross (circa 20,500 euros).

“I’ve never run away, and I’m not going to do so now. Wherever I go, it’s always forward,” he said on the subject of having given up his mandate in Parliament.

To questions about the luxurious Hatvanpuszta estate registered in his father's name and the assets of his friend Lőrinc Mészáros, Orbán simply replied, “Ask the owners.”

Commenting on Tisza’s victory, he said that in his view, the victorious party “ran a successful, effective, and hate-mongering campaign,” while he believes that Fidesz’s campaign was about love. When asked whether Zelensky had founded a party in Hungary, as Fidesz's propaganda had repeatedly claimed throughout the campaign, Orbán said: let’s wait until May 9 (the planned date of the new government's inauguration).