"I will never, never, never ever give up," the former premier said starting his address.

Referring to the election in which the Fidesz-Christian Democrat alliance was defeated and the Tisza Party won with a landslide, Orban said Fidesz's election messages "did not work" and the rival's advantage had not been "realised in time".

Fidesz was mistaken to expect that turnout at the polls would stay at an earlier level and misjudged the success of Tisza's mobilisation, he added.

Fidesz "failed to effectively respond to the hate campaigns and charges of corruption" while "in the digital space it suffered a catastrophic defeat," Orban said, adding that "algorhythms controlled from abroad obviously and absurdly promoted all that was serving a government change". 

"The adversary succeeded in neutralising Fidesz's messages concerning the war threatening Hungary," the former prime minister said.

Fidesz failed to identify an economic policy "that could be successful despite Europe's overall economic decline", while the party "would not make social or economic commitments that could not be fulfilled," Orban said.

According to Orban, the election was lost "over a brutally large defeat among young people". 

He called it his "personal fiasco" and regretted that young people "drastically reject" both his person and his programme.

Orban adopted responsibility for the election defeat, and said that was why he had initiated the renewal congress: "I cannot stand leaders ... who, when in trouble, keep blaming others."

He said he was the "owner of strategic mistakes" rather than the party's campaign chief, regional leaders or candidates defeated in individual constituencies.

Concerning planned changes to the party's statutes, Orban said Fidesz had now become an opposition party after 16 years on government and "the current organisational structure is more of a straitjacket rather than workwear".

Orban insisted that Fidesz had been a "fantastic" ruling party, but "supporting the party ate away the community's power ... efficacy and discipline came before anything else and Fidesz became a power transmission mechanism, almost a paramilitary ruling party," he said.

Fidesz needs to be re-transformed into a movement in which "there is more friendship than instructions, equal height rather than hierarchy, spontaneity rather than discipline, and spiritual strength rather than muscles, more civil values and less military merit," Orban said.

He suggested that the system of electoral districts should be abandoned with a "return to municipalities and counties".

The post of regional director should be scrapped and the party could have a national board of 28 members, with county party leaders, the heads of the party's EP and national parliamentary groups, as well as the chairman and four vice-chairpersons, he said.

As an opposition party, Fidesz needs to be "the voice of the people", organising "resistance against the government's ill-advised decisions and aggressive abuse of power", providing "a home to those that believe in patriotic values and protection to those unjustly harmed," Orban said, adding that his party would need to "stand ready should the government fail".

Orban suggested the relationship between the country and its government was becoming "abusive". "I could say now the country is Judit Varga," he said referring to the former justice minister, the ex-wife of Prime Minister Peter Magyar.

By the end of summer, Fidesz will again be "an organised, strong, and friendly community" while "it will turn out in the autumn how long the country can tolerate being abused by the government, with liberal economists experimenting on families," Orban said.

"If it goes on like this, there will be resistance in autumn, the time for a great patriotic national movement. By the time the leaves fall from the trees, Fidesz must stand ready," the former prime minister said.

MTI Stock Photo

Source: MTI – Hungary’s national news agency since 1881.

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