Viktor Orbán, Hungary's outgoing prime minister, announced on Saturday that he will not take up his seat in parliament following his party's devastating defeat in the April 12 election, ending his 16-year grip on power.
"I am now needed not in parliament, but in the reorganisation of the patriotic movement," Orbán said in a video statement released on social media. Despite his nationalist Fidesz party collapsing from 135 seats to just 52 in the 199-seat legislature, Orbán had been re-elected as an MP through the proportional representation list.
The landslide victory went to the Tisza party, led by former Fidesz insider Péter Magyar, which secured more than a two-thirds majority. The result paves the way for a dramatic reset of Hungary's domestic policies and international alliances.
After a meeting of Fidesz officials, Orbán, 62, said the party's parliamentary bloc would be led from Monday by Gulyás Gergely, who previously served as the minister overseeing the prime minister's office. "The mandate I obtained as the lead candidate of the Fidesz-KDNP list is, in fact, a parliamentary mandate of Fidesz. For this reason, I have decided to return it," Orbán explained.
Orbán had held a parliamentary seat continuously since 1990 and has led Fidesz throughout that period. He served as prime minister from 2010 onward, becoming the dominant figure in Hungarian politics. However, public anger over corruption and declining living standards drove voters away.
Incoming Prime Minister Péter Magyar has pledged to reverse Orbán-era changes to education and health, combat corruption, restore judicial independence, and dismantle the widely detested patronage system known as NER, which enriched party loyalists and squandered state resources.
While Orbán aligned himself with US President Donald Trump and Russia's Vladimir Putin, "Russians go home" became a common chant at Tisza campaign rallies. Magyar has promised to seek more cordial ties with the EU and Ukraine, in stark contrast to Orbán's confrontational stance.
Magyar has urged a swift handover of power, and Hungary's new parliament is scheduled to hold its first session on May 9. Orbán's future as Fidesz leader will be decided at a party conference in June, he said, vowing to continue shaping the nationalist movement.