Hungarian ex-prime minister Viktor Orbán declared on Monday that the Tisza party became ridiculous when it pushed through a constitutional amendment in the parliament, according to which he will no longer be able to be prime minister. Orbán spoke about this in an interview for the index.hu server, reports TASR correspondent in Budapest.
In short:
- The Hungarian parliament limited the term of office of the prime minister to a maximum of eight years
- After the amendment to the constitution, Viktor Orbán can no longer hold the position of prime minister
- Orbán considers the possibility of constitutionally isolating a popular leader from the people to be ridiculous
On Monday, the Hungarian National Assembly approved the sixteenth amendment to the constitution, which limits the term of office of the Prime Minister to a maximum of eight years. Orbán was prime minister from 1998 to 2002 and then continuously from May 29, 2010 to May 9, 2026.
Constitutional amendment criticized
In the interview, Orbán said that the amendment to the constitution concerns his person and that he finds it funny to the point of being ridiculous that in Hungary anyone – for example him – can be isolated from the people. “The people should decide on that. By the way, they (Tisza) have been in power for a month,” remarked the ex-prime minister, according to whom Tisza and her government “shouldn’t dream of eight years, that’s a mistake.”
The delegates of Saturday’s congress of the Fidesz party re-elected Orbán as president, without a challenger. “We need a generational change at the head of the party, people in their 30s and 40s should come. I would like to prepare for that, that’s why I only asked for one year (as party chairman),” said the re-elected Fidesz chairman. Orbán led the party from 1993 to 2000, then from 2003 to the present.
Electoral defeat and criticism
According to the 444.hu server, Orbán did not primarily blame Fidesz’s policy for the loss in the interview, which was published before the vote in parliament. Rather, he spoke of the party falling behind in the digital political competition, while voters – especially young people – expected bigger changes and more promises than he was willing to make. He said that Fidesz’s failure to respond effectively to corruption cases played a significant role in his election defeat, but stressed that he still does not accept that these are real allegations.
Orbán sharply criticized the reduction in the salaries of MPs and members of the government, calling this move “the most primitive communist propaganda”. According to him, the main task of Fidesz in the next period will be the protection of Hungary from the systematic plundering of Tisza’s government. He declared that this looting had already begun and its consequences would be fully felt in the fall, so it would be necessary to organize a “broader patriotic movement.” But for now, he said, Fidesz should use its parliamentary and regional power to try to prevent decisions it considers harmful.
