World
Hungary’s Orban declares ‘resistance’ movement against Magyar government’s ‘tyranny’
BUDAPEST, Hungary (AP) — Hungary’s former prime minister Viktor Orbán declared on Wednesday that he and his far-right Fidesz party will lead a peaceful “resistance” movement against what he called the tyrannical exercise of power by the country’s new center-right government.
Orbán was defeated in a blowout election in April by Prime Minister Péter Magyar and his pro-European Tisza party, ending his 16 years in office. Since then, Orbán’s nationalist Fidesz party has struggled to recover.
At a news conference outside party headquarters in Budapest, Orbán said a constitutional amendment passed last week by Tisza’s majority in Parliament — which removed Hungary’s Orbán-era president and set a 12-year term limit for members of Parliament — had “dismantled the rule of law and eliminated the system of checks and balances.”
The term limit, which applies retroactively, returns Hungary to a status similar to the final years of its Communist dictatorship in the late 1980s, Orbán asserted, “when there was no democracy in Hungary, there was no rule of law.”
He said the term limit would exclude around half of his party coalition’s sitting members from running in the next national elections set for 2030.
“This new political system is not a democracy, it is tyranny,” Orbán said.
Since taking office in May, Magyar’s administration has gone to work dismantling what he calls Orbán’s “mafia” by removing numerous political appointees as well as heads of institutions viewed as having facilitated Orbán’s autocratic government.
The new administration suspended the news service of Hungary’s public television and radio — which Magyar argued served as a “propaganda factory” for Orbán’s party — and closed the Sovereignty Protection Office, an authority seen by Orbán’s opponents as a tool for intimidating critics and silencing independent media.
Fidesz has portrayed the moves as assaults on democracy and warned of an authoritarian system in the making. Tisza argues it is using its overwhelming electoral mandate to fulfill campaign promises, combat corruption and restore the rule of law that was eroded under Orbán.
On Wednesday, Orbán said his party considers any officials Tisza appoints to replace earlier appointees “illegitimate,” and announced his party’s “Declaration of Resistance” to Magyar’s government.
Fidesz vows to use ‘every peaceful means’
In the declaration, which Fidesz publicized late Tuesday, the party says that “from this day forward, our mission is to restore the democratic rule of law.”
“Every citizen has the right to stand against tyrannical rule,” the declaration reads. “Fidesz… will use every peaceful means, both inside and outside Parliament, to resist the arbitrary exercise of power.”
It had few details but said it would assist “victims of the authoritarian regime” and document violations of the law.
After dominating Hungarian politics for nearly two decades, Fidesz has spiraled since its election loss. According to a June survey by pollster Medián and published by news site HVG.hu, Tisza’s support stands at 60% among the country’s entire population while Fidesz support has shrunk to 18%.
On Tuesday, prosecutors and investigators with Hungary’s tax authority raided offices housing Fidesz’s data servers as part of a probe into suspected embezzlement and other crimes during Orbán’s rule. Orbán alleged Wednesday that the raid was “on political orders,” and said such an action could occur “only in severe dictatorships.”
Fidesz has seen some of its most prominent politicians take a back seat or leave politics. Last week, its parliamentary caucus leader Gergely Gulyás stepped down from his role, while Orbán-era foreign minister Péter Szijjártó announced he was resigning from Parliament to take an executive position with Chinese carmaker BYD.
