Orban re-elected as Fidesz party leader in Hungary despite election loss

Former longtime Hungarian leader and Netanyahu ally wins 729 of 737 delegate votes after taking responsibility for April defeat, despite mounting pressure to step aside

BUDAPEST, Hungary — Hungary’s main opposition Fidesz party re-elected former prime minister Viktor Orban as its leader on Saturday for another year despite the party’s loss of power in an April 12 election to the center-right Tisza party.

Nationalist Orban, 62, provided inspiration for right-wing conservatives across Europe and the United States as the mastermind of ‌what he called an “illiberal” model of democracy.

Orban’s political future came into question after Fidesz’s defeat, and he had faced pressure from some erstwhile loyalists to bow out of politics, the first such open criticism since he swept to power in 2010.

Some 729 delegates out of 737 voted to re-elect Orban at Fidesz’s party congress, state news agency MTI reported. There were no challengers running against him.

“I do not give up, I never, never, never, never, never give up,” Orban told the congress in a speech before the vote, reiterating that he took full responsibility for the party’s election defeat.

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Orban said Fidesz had been a “fantastic governing party” for 16 years but needed to undergo changes to become a functional opposition party that could become ready to govern again.

In the April election, Prime Minister Peter Magyar’s Tisza party won a two-thirds parliamentary majority, enough to reverse Orban’s constitutional changes.

Fidesz has lost support since the election, according to opinion polls. A May survey by the Publicus Institute showed Tisza with 55 percent support, up from the 53% it secured in the election, while backing for Fidesz fell to 17%, down from 39%.

Orban’s 16-year tenure was marked by his longstanding support for Israel, having fostered close ties with Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and consistently backing Israel in international forums.

Since Magyar came into power, Hungarian lawmakers voted overwhelmingly to stay in the International Criminal Court, halting a withdrawal process set in motion by Orban last year in response to an ICC arrest warrant against Netanyahu. Magyar had vowed to reverse the exit process.

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