Crushed at the Polls, Hungary’s Former Ruling Party Licks Its Wounds

Following his party’s crushing defeat in a general election, Hungary’s departing prime minister, Viktor Orban, said on Saturday that he would give up his seat in Parliament and focus on rebuilding his battered “patriotic movement.”

But after 16 years in power and nearly four decades as leader of Hungary’s once-invincible Fidesz party, he indicated that he would like to stay on as leader of the party, which won only 52 seats in an April 12 election, compared with 141 for Tisza, an upstart opposition movement.

“I am needed not in Parliament but in the organization of the patriotic movement,” Mr. Orban said in a video message posted on X. He added that he would surrender leadership of Fidesz’s contingent in the legislature to Gergely Gulyas, his chief of staff.

“Discussions are in full swing about renewing the patriotic camp, strengthening our parliamentary group and protecting our communities,” he said.

By surrendering his Parliament seat, Mr. Orban avoids having to submit to a large majority of legislators led by Peter Magyar, a onetime loyalist whom Fidesz vilified during the election campaign as a sex pest, a traitor and a puppet of Ukraine and the European Union. Mr. Orban has been a member of Parliament since 1990, and his decision to quit drew scorn from Mr. Magyar. “The ‘brave’ street fighter is still incapable of one thing: taking responsibility,” he said in a message on Facebook.

Mr. Magyar, a conservative former member of Fidesz, is scheduled to take over as prime minister when Parliament reconvenes for its first post-election session, currently set for May 9. With more than two-thirds of the seats controlled by Tisza, Mr. Magyar commands a so-called constitutional majority, allowing him to undo electoral and other sweeping changes introduced during Mr. Orban’s long tenure.