Orban calls for renewal of his party after heavy election defeat

(Patria) - Hungarian outgoing nationalist Prime Minister Viktor Orban called for a "complete renewal" of his party after suffering a heavy election defeat that ended sixteen years of his rule.

Orban lost on Sunday to the conservative pro-EU Peter Magyar, whose party won a two-thirds parliamentary majority in a vote marked by record turnout in the Central European country, AFP reported.

"We cannot continue as we have been acting," Orban said in his first interview since the defeat, which was broadcast live yesterday on Patria's YouTube channel.

"A complete renewal is needed, and this does not only apply to Fidesz (Orban's party), but to the entire national side," he said.

After the "significant" defeat, Orban said he was "trying to somehow get out of this shock" and that, as party leader, he takes "full responsibility".

"The first and most important task is to manage the government handover," he said, adding that the process is already underway.

"The second task is to convene the necessary bodies for renewal, such as the national assembly of delegates and the party congress. This work is already underway."

The outgoing prime minister has also decided to skip the final European Union summit next week in Cyprus before formally handing over power to the new prime minister in early May.

"Prime Minister Viktor Orban will not attend the informal meeting of EU heads of state and government on April 23 and 24 due to his duties related to the government handover," Hungarian Minister for European Union Janos Boka wrote on Facebook earlier on Thursday.

His absence will spare him a potential showdown over his continued veto of a ninety-billion-euro European Union loan for Ukraine.

The move was the latest in a series of decisions by Orban, an ally of US President Donald Trump and Russian President Vladimir Putin, that have angered Brussels.

The European Union had previously frozen aid to Hungary due to concerns about Orban's democratic backsliding. Magyar has vowed to dismantle the nationalist administration and repair relations with Brussels to unfreeze billions of dollars in EU funds.

Negotiations with the European Union

Following Magyar's victory, European Union officials will visit Hungary on Friday for talks with the newly elected government.

"These are preliminary talks being held to ensure that when the government is actually formed, measures can be taken if appropriate and we don't waste time," EU spokesperson Paula Pinho said.

Magyar's "regime change" gained momentum yesterday when the Tisza party leader said he would not use the monastery office overlooking Budapest, which had been Orban's seat of power.

"Under the Tisza government, the prime minister's office will not be located in the Carmelite Monastery, but in a ministry building near Parliament," Magyar said in a Facebook post.

Orban moved his office in 2019 from near Parliament to the Carmelite Monastery in Budapest's historic Castle District.

Critics condemned the renovation costs and heavy security measures around the former cultural center overlooking the Danube, which the government acquired in 2014.

Magyar has also vowed to suspend state media reporting, which opponents have said has become Orban's mouthpiece.

Staff at the national news agency MTI have called for the return of "editorial autonomy" in a letter seen by AFP yesterday, with one editor saying they were "fed up with illegal, external political interference".