Hungary’s Orbán says ‘complete renewal’ needed within his party after election loss

BUDAPEST, Hungary (AP) — Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orbán said Thursday that his populist-nationalist Fidesz party will require a “complete renewal” following its landslide election loss on Sunday which brought an end to Orbán’s 16 years in power.

The earthquake election delivered a powerful two-thirds majority in Hungary’s Parliament to Orbán’s center-right opponent, the Tisza party led by Péter Magyar. The scope of the loss led to speculation on whether Orbán would resign his role as his party’s president, a position he’s held almost without interruption since the early 1990s.

In an interview with a pro-Orbán YouTube channel on Thursday, Orbán said that “a political era has ended,” but suggested he would not step aside and was already at work picking up the pieces within his 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,” he said.

Sunday’s election was a stunning blow for Orbán — a close ally of both U.S. President Donald Trump and Russian President Vladimir Putin — who conceded defeat after what he called a ″painful″ election result.

Magyar, a former Orbán loyalist who campaigned against corruption and on everyday issues like 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 the election. Following a private consultation with Hungary’s president on Wednesday, he told reporters he’d been assured that 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.

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’d felt “pain and emptiness.”

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

Still, he said, his party retains a major base of support in Hungary since nearly 2.4 million people cast votes for Fidesz in the country of 9.5 million.

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