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Hungary's
Viktor Orban urges supporters to stand up against PM Magyar's 'tyranny'
By
Reuters
July 22,
20269:59 AM GMT+2Updated 1 hour ago
BUDAPEST,
July 22 (Reuters) - Hungary's former nationalist Prime Minister Viktor Orban,
who was ousted after 16 years in power in an election in April, has urged his supporters to restore
democracy in the country which he said had been crushed by the new government.
In his
first strong political statement since his landslide election defeat, Orban
late on Tuesday issued a "Statement of Resistance" on Facebook
shortly after his Fidesz party said prosecutors had raided offices housing its
internet servers.
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Prosecutors
told Reuters in an emailed response that the action was linked to an
investigation into "misappropriation and other criminal offences" at
the National Culture Fund under Orban's government.
Orban
told reporters that prosecutors had taken
servers containing a database and emails of party members, which he said was a politically motivated move to
make it legally impossible for Fidesz to operate.
"The
National Culture Fund issue was just a pretext for this," Orban said,
adding that there had been no wrongdoing.
In his
Facebook post, Orban said Hungary had "ceased to be a democratic
state" after the new centre-right government of Prime Minister Peter
Magyar passed a constitutional amendment ending the mandate of the
president and the head of the constitutional court.
Tisza denies taking an authoritarian stance
towards political opponents. It has pledged to curb corruption, which it says
was rampant under Orban's administration, part of Tisza's drive to
bring Hungary back into the EU mainstream.
Orban
himself faced heavy criticism during his rule over democratic standards in
Hungary, and was in frequent conflict with the EU over issues such as the rule
of law and minority rights.
Orban has
denied the corruption allegations.
"The
new political system created this way is illegitimate...Fidesz will use all peaceful tools against abuse of
power inside parliament and outside parliament," Orban said.
Magyar's
Tisza party has a supermajority in parliament, which enables it to
roll back changes introduced by Orban that Magyar says harmed democracy.
The
constitutional amendment ended President Tamas Sulyok's term, citing society's
"serious loss of confidence" in a leader elected in 2024 by lawmakers
from Orban's Fidesz party. Parliament will soon elect a new president.
Magyar's
Tisza commands huge public support, with a poll by pollster Median earlier this month showing 60%
support, against 18% for Fidesz. Since the election, Fidesz has been in
disarray, with its parliamentary group leader resigning last week.
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