PM Orban: Complete Renewal Is Needed! + Video

An era has come to an end, and many changes are necessary, stated Viktor Orban four days after the election defeat. A full renewal of Fidesz will be required, and the entire parliamentary group must be reshaped based on the party list so that those who are needed in the new situation are the ones working in parliament, the outgoing prime minister told Patriota YouTube channel in a lengthy interview.

“How big was the defeat, and are you planning to resign?” Viktor Orban was asked on the Patriota channel in his first interview since losing the election. Responding to the question on everyone’s mind, the president of Fidesz said that “This situation entails more than just changing one or two positions,

a complete renewal is needed.

“We can no longer continue our politics as we have been doing so far. As for the scale of the defeat, the numbers speak clearly: the national side received 2.3 million votes, while the other side received 3.1 million, so the scale of the defeat is significant,” Viktor Orban said. “A complete renewal is needed, and this applies not only to Fidesz, but to the entire national side,” the outgoing prime minister stated, adding that many people will now step down or change positions.

What does Viktor Orban regret?

“The Paks II nuclear power plant should have been built faster. If that had been achieved, the Hungarian economy would be in a better position today, and we would have more and cheaper energy,” he said when asked what he regrets from his time in government.

“After the first turnout figures came in, I could see there would be problems, because they pointed to a different trajectory than what we had expected. We saw that our campaign had not worked. Our projections assumed lower turnout, and the increase was entirely due to protest votes,” Viktor Orban said, describing election day from is perspective. He added that

After that, I went through an emotional roller coaster. An era has ended, and many changes are needed.

The outgoing prime minister also mentioned that he had spoken with many people who feel the same sense of emptiness he felt on Monday and who are worried about their country. Viktor Orban’s message to them is that

Isten óvja Magyarországot! May God protect Hungary!

“These people understand the challenges Hungary must face,” he said. “We know about ourselves that we understand challenges of this magnitude, and we are capable of protecting the country against war, the energy crisis, and migration,” Viktor Orban declared. He added that it is uncertain whether those now forming the government will be able to protect the country at least as well as they did.

He emphasized that there is another uncertainty among people: whether they voted correctly. On this, the outgoing prime minister stated that they did vote correctly. “We made the right decision, and we should be proud of it,” Viktor Orban said. “The many tearful people on the national side should try to overcome their pain and be proud of everything that has been achieved over the past 16 years as national accomplishments, and remain determined to protect these achievements if attempts at dismantling them were to come. Be proud!” he stressed.

Defeat must be borne with dignity

The president of Fidesz also spoke about the need to bear defeat with dignity, because they know they made the right decision. “We know we will also have the strength to protect what we have built,” he added. Regarding unworthy attacks and threats, he emphasized that the most important task is to handle them with dignity.

Viktor Orban is not saying that the 3.1 million people who voted for the Tisza Party made the wrong decision.

“What their decision was worth will become clear,” he said. He added that he hopes those who believed their lives would become easier and that they would get a better government after the change will see their wishes fulfilled. “We will never root against our own country,” Viktor Orban emphasized. “The campaign was about offers, and there were two. One was ours. We said that serious troubles are coming and that change is dangerous. The other side said change is needed because the current leadership is causing the problems.”

We must admit that the second message was stronger,

Viktor Orban said, adding that “my colleagues worked well, because our message was clear.”

The prime minister said he must also examine why the other message proved stronger. “I would not change our message, because it was honest, it came from the heart, I spoke plainly to everyone,” Viktor Orban said about his campaign. “However, I must have said something that miscarried, because people chose the other side after all,” he added.

Viktor Orban: I am responsible for the defeat

“I am responsible for the election defeat, because I am the president of the party. I owe thanks to everyone who contributed, they bear no responsibility whatsoever. But in politics, one person must take responsibility, and that person is me,” the prime minister explained when asked who is responsible for the defeat

“Let us not pretend that the whole country said it has had enough of the government. There are many achievements that did not exist before, such as support for families or the elderly. People did not vote about this, but about the future, and they said they see more opportunity in the Tisza Party. However, that does not mean everything until now was bad,” he pointed out. There were certainly mistakes, but only those who work can make mistakes, he added.

The president of Fidesz believes that by the end of June they will have completed the first phase of a full renewal. “There are large intellectual circles, creative communities, digital and offline civic groups. This is a very large world that must design the future and help create its new form,” he explained. He said there is a clear roadmap for this process with leadership renewal, voting on presidents and vice presidents. “There is still a great deal of work ahead of us,” he said.

Did Viktor Orban know in advance that this would be the result?

When asked whether he had foreseen the outcome, Viktor Orban said that if he had known in advance, he would not have run this kind of campaign. He himself believed they would win, since large crowds had gathered at the locations he visited. He put it this way: among voters entering above the usual 70–72 percent turnout level, they either failed to reach them (turnout eventually exceeded 79 percent– Ed.) or those voters were simply not interested in him. Viktor Orban said that what must now be carefully analyzed is why these people voted against him, but he added that this will take time.

He was also asked about the remarks of Andras Bencsik, to which he responded by saying they are comrades-in-arms, and he thanked him for his opinion while also making clear that he continues to count on him. At the same time, he said that Bencsik may not be entirely precise on this point, if only because the world of public opinion polling is completely transparent and the data had been available on the table. “I cannot say that information was not available,” he stressed, referring to the fact that polling from the left was also accessible to everyone.

Regarding allegations of corruption, he said these certainly played a role in the victory of the Tisza Party. Responding to a statement by Orsolya Ferencz, he said he would not recommend self-mutilation; now is the time to build. What is needed, he said, is to analyze the situation and rid themselves of the bad elements.

Fidesz's president stated that he has never tolerated corruption, and in every case where suspicion arose, the authorities always proceeded, and this was something he had always supported.

“All laws must be obeyed,” Viktor Orban said, and in his view this means that there is no corruption if this standard is upheld. Whenever a suspicion that appeared substantive emerged, it was investigated in every field, and in his opinion the Hungarian authorities have done good work in this regard.

What will Fidesz be like in opposition?

“I approach the new government by saying: carry through what your message promised. I am rooting for the country not to suffer. We will support every good measure, but if we see destruction, we will not accept it and we will vote against it,” Viktor Orban declared. He highlighted that “it is not right to call on the president of the republic, elected by parliament, to resign, and it is likewise not right to call on other elected heads of state institutions to step down. People holding constitutional offices cannot be threatened. If someone wants to remove them, then let them find the legal path,” he said. These are troubling developments and not the right way forward, he added.

“We have national achievements, and if they are dismantled, people will be worse off, not better, while the new government promises that people will be better off,” he pointed out. He added that for now he does not want to assume bad intentions from a government that has not yet even been formed, but its intentions will become clear through its decisions.

Fidesz's parliamentary group must be reshaped, those at the top of the list will not automatically take the seats

“We have the strength to protect our achievements if we are able to renew ourselves. The essence of renewal is that it is not directed from the center but the people within the system must want it,” he pointed out. He went on to say that the first task is the handover, and those in charge of the task have already been appointed. The second task is renewal. Those who have now entered parliament are not necessarily the same as those who are needed now, therefore the parliamentary group must be redesigned based on the party list.

The group can be built from those who are on the list (this means 279 candidates, the full list can be browsed here), which was submitted for the election. Anyone who was not a list candidate cannot become a representative; Viktor Orban reviewed this just today, though he has not yet named the future Fidesz–KDNP representatives.

However, he assured everyone that there will be significant restructuring, since the parliamentary group they originally designed

was intended for electoral victory.

Now, however, that is not the task, and therefore the group must be rebuilt. This work has already begun, the outgoing prime minister emphasized. He also said that this community is not just a political choice for him, but his life.

There is a fantastic and vast national side with truly remarkable characters, about whom one cannot speak without emotion, as he put it. “We need people who can transform this into politics, governance, and performance,” Viktor Orban said.
He added that he has always loved organizing this community, although over the past 16 years he has not had very much time for it. “If I am given the mandate, I will carry out this work not only with pleasure, but with joy,” he stressed.

Viktor Orban believes the election campaign clearly showed that there is no longer a left and right as traditional categories have been “dried up by the sun.” According to the president of Fidesz, there are patriots and there is another side: the globalist or Brussels side. He believes that the major questions of life will increasingly emerge in these terms, and the national side must prepare for the fact that these questions will present themselves as war or peace.

“I can tell you which direction is forward. The future belongs to patriots,” 

the outgoing prime minister declared.

“When I started to age out of my other love, football, I said give me a job in the equipment room, but if needed, I will gladly lead the team onto the field as captain,” Viktor Orban said when asked about his future role. The prime minister said that he now feels younger, because one can grow tired in work, and there were times when he did. He emphasized that 

it will not be him who decides what role he will take in the future.

“Whatever they ask of me, I will do it. If needed, I will remain in the equipment room. If needed, I will once again lead the team onto the field,” he explained.

Fidesz has convened an extraordinary executive committee meeting for April 28 and after that a party congress will be held to elect new leadership.