On Monday, the parliamentary faction of Fidesz and KDNP was formed, and it was decided who will sit in the opposition benches of the new Parliament. Péter Szijjártó and János Lázár take over their mandates, but several old, influential representatives leave the parliament. Saying goodbye after thirty-six years from the mandate, in addition to Viktor Orbán, László Kövér and Lajos Kósa, and only Zsolt Németh from the first parliament after the regime change can continue working. Antal Rogán, Szilárd Németh, Gábor Kubatov, Zsolt Semjén, Tamás Menczer and Gabriella Selmeczi do not sit in the parliament either. Fidesz-KDNP won 52 seats in the 199-member parliament in the April 12 election, Fidesz’s 44-member faction is led by Gergely Gulyás, and KDNP’s 8-member faction is led by Bence Rétvári.
“Significant changes and renewal are taking place at the Fidesz-KDNP faction,” said Gergely Gulyás in his Facebook video shared on Monday afternoon, announcing the full list of the Fidesz faction:
- Peter Ágh,
- György Balla,
- Mihály Balla,
- János Bencsik,
- János Bóka,
- Gábor Czirbus,
- Gyula Buda,
- Krisztina Csibi,
- Gábor Csuzda,
- Balázs Hankó,
- violinist Barbara,
- Zsófia Koncz,
- Árpád Takács,
- Attila Tilki,
- Eszter Vitalios,
- István Vitányi,
- Sándor F. Kovács,
- Gergely Gulyás,
- Gyopáros Alpár,
- Hey David,
- Balázs Hidvéghi,
- Máté Kocsis,
- Sándor Kovács,
- John Lázár,
- Mrs Anna Lezsák Molnár,
- Bálin the Great,
- Balázs Németh,
- Zsolt Németh,
- Balázs Orbán,
- Miklós Panyi,
- Zsolt Papp,
- János Pócs,
- Béla Radics,
- Zoltán Szécsi,
- Alexandra of Saint King,
- Péter Szijjártó,
- Gábor Szűcs,
- Péter Takács,
- Bence Tuzson,
- Zsolt V. Németh,
- Gábor Varga,
- Mária Piroska Szalai Zsoltné Varga,
- Mihály Witzmann,
- Robert Zsigo.
In the video, Gulyás also talked about that 25 of the 42 list representatives do not take over their mandate. Balázs Orbán will be a member of the European Parliament from July, and Fidesz MEP Pál Szekeres will take his place in the Hungarian Parliament. Gulyás also announced that Fidesz will have 9 deputy faction leaders: former faction leader Máté Kocsis, faction director György Balla and 7 spokespeople who “will represent Fidesz in the political debates of the parliamentary group in the coming weeks and months.”
“The task of Fidesz-KDNP is to be a normal opposition in the Hungarian Parliament,” said the new faction leader of Fidesz, and he also said that they will support all good proposals, “but we will oppose the arbitrary decisions of the ruling party with more than a two-thirds majority, and even its pursuit of arbitrariness, and we will make it clear that this is not what the voters gave us a mandate for.”
Bence Rétvári, the new faction leader of the KDNP, has already done so before posted the names of the members of the faction of 8:
The deputy faction leaders of the KDNP will be Hajnalka Juhász and Lőrinc Nacsa. Among the listed candidates, István Hollik, János Süli and Attila József Móring, among others, did not join the faction of the KDNP.
KDNP faction – Photo: Bence Rétári / Facebook
For a moment, the seat of the Fidesz representative who won in the 10 individual constituencies was not in danger, since if they did not take up their mandate, a by-election would have to be held in their district.
- Gábor Csuzda – Borsod-Abaúj-Zemplén 3 (Ózd),
- Gábor Varga – Fejér 5 (Sárbogárd),
- Gyopáros Alpár – Győr-Moson-Sopron 3 (Csorna),
- István Vitányi – Hajdú-Bihar 4 (Berettyóújfalu),
- Sándor F. Kovács – Jász-Nagykun-Szolnok 3 (Karcag),
- Mihály Balla – Nógrád 2 (Balassagyarmat),
- Attila Tilki – Szabolcs-Szatmár-Bereg 4 (Vásárosnamény),
- Sándor Kovács – Szabolcs-Szatmár-Bereg 5 (Mátészalka),
- Péter Ágh – Vas 2 (Sárvár),
- Zsolt V. Németh – Vas 3 (Körmend).
However, the 42 representatives from the list can resign their mandate at any time, and in this case the party leadership decides who will take their place. There is only one restriction in the legislation: only a from the list of 279 people announced at the beginning of March you can send someone else to the parliament, the order no longer matters.
According to Orbán, we need different kinds of people in the opposition
Viktor Orbán after the Fidesz presidency meeting on Saturday announcedthat he will not take over his mandate. “We will not need me now in the Parliament, but in the reorganization of the national side,” said the outgoing Prime Minister, who is saying goodbye to his work as a representative after thirty-six years.
Apart from him, only László Kövér, Zsolt Németh and Lajos Kósa were members of the first Parliament after the regime change. It’s too late posted on his Facebook page on Sundaythat as the vice president of Fidesz, “feeling the general responsibility for the election failure”, he will not take over his mandate and will not run as a candidate at the next Fidesz congress.
Also Erik Bánki announced his retirementwho has been in parliament since 1998. “In consultation with my family, I have decided to take a step back. After 36 years, I will end front politics, but I will do everything from the background to ensure that our community remains united, grows stronger, and that we can return to governing as soon as possible,” the representative wrote on his Facebook page.
Viktor Orbán four days after the election in an interview with Patriot he spoke for the first time about the complete redesign and transformation of the Fidesz faction that was in the opposition.
“Those who have now entered parliament are not the people we will need there.”
According to the outgoing prime minister, the representatives on the Fidesz-KDNP list would have been able to work well in the parliament if Fidesz had won, but now there is a new situation, and the opposition “needs different kinds of people, different kinds of abilities, different kinds of representatives.” Gergely Gulyás he said after the April 17 parliamentary consultationthat “we need a faction that can both symbolize the renewal of Fidesz and includes people who are knowledgeable in political issues and even have government experience”.
It sure is they have to prepare for a completely different role for the two-thirds majority of the last 16 years, it has been comfortable for Fidesz representatives. In the last four cycles, with a slight exaggeration, they only had to pay attention to being in the meeting room on time and pressing the button that the faction leadership prescribed for them. We wrote here in more detail about the strategies they can choose from in the opposition.
