Orbán walks away from parliament seat after election shock

Hungary’s outgoing nationalist prime minister Viktor Orbán announced on Saturday, April 25, that he would step back from parliament after his coalition suffered a decisive election defeat, bringing an end to his 16-year rule.

"Since the seat I won as the lead candidate on the Fidesz-KDNP ticket is, in fact, a parliamentary seat for Fidesz, I have decided to give it back. Right now, I am not needed in Parliament, but in the reorganization of the national camp," Orbán said in a Facebook video following a meeting of Fidesz’s executive committee.

He added that he remains willing to continue serving as party president if that is the decision taken at the party’s congress in June.

Orbán, 62, has been a constant figure in Hungary’s National Assembly since 1990 and last week called for a “complete renewal” of his party.

He was defeated on April 12 by political newcomer Péter Magyar, a conservative pro-EU candidate whose party secured a two-thirds parliamentary majority in an election marked by record turnout in the central European nation.

By Jeyhun Aghazada