Orban Offers to Step Down as Fidesz Leader
Outgoing Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban has offered to resign as leader of Fidesz, according to party member Erik Banki. The party's congress on 13 June will decide whether to accept his resignation.
The move follows an election defeat in which the Tisza party, led by Peter Magyar, ended Orban's 16-year rule and sparked an internal debate within Fidesz about the party's direction and the need for change.
The party did not immediately comment. Orban did not speak to the media after the most recent party meeting and published no statement on social media.
After the election, however, he acknowledged responsibility for the result. "As Fidesz president, I take full responsibility for the defeat", he told the media on 16 April, adding that the Hungarian right needed to renew itself. "The Hungarian right-wing needs a complete renewal", he said.
Over the weekend, Orban announced he would give up his parliamentary seat. "I am needed now not in parliament but in the reorganisation of the right-wing", he said, while noting that the Fidesz leadership wants him to remain in office and that he is prepared to continue if the congress supports him.