Outgoing Prime Minister of Hungary, Viktor Orbán, has announced he will not take up his parliamentary mandate after his party suffered a major defeat, bringing an end to his 16-year rule.
“I am no longer needed in parliament, but in reorganizing the patriotic movement,” he said in a video statement released on social media on Saturday evening, as reported by BBC News.
Despite his party, Fidesz, securing 52 seats in the April 12 elections—down from 135—Orbán had been re-elected as an MP.
The Tisza Party, led by former Fidesz member Péter Magyar, won more than a two-thirds majority in the 199-seat parliament, paving the way for a major reshaping of both domestic and foreign policy in Hungary.
Orbán has served as an MP since 1990. As prime minister, he had been in power since 2010, becoming a dominant figure in Hungarian politics.
