Jobbik’s Varga-Damm defies party leaders and refuses to return her mandate

Jobbik MP Andrea Varga-Damm has refused a call by her party leadership to return her parliamentary mandate.

Varga-Damm said on social media on Thursday that she had the support of many party members.

Yesterday Jobbik’s leadership gave her 24 hours to resign or face expulsion for voting with the government on a bill which they said would enhance “state surveillance”.

Varga-Damm is the vice-chairwoman of parliament’s Law Enforcement Committee.

Conservative opposition Jobbik leaders said the party would never have supported the proposal.

UPDATE

Press release: 

WE ADMIT IT: WE MADE A MISTAKE! – Jobbik

We are fully aware how unprecedented it is in Hungarian history for politicians to admit they made a mistake. The admission of human error is especially unlikely today when we live under a regime controlled by a self-proclaimed infallible leader. Regardless of all that, we admit we made a mistake because we are not infallible. We are human.

On 19th May, the National Assembly passed the 282-article omnibus bill on national surveillance. It is an unchangeable fact that Jobbik, based on the suggestion of the topic’s specialist, voted for the bill. It was a mistake. It was a mistake even though we know that Fidesz’ two-thirds parliamentary majority would have adopted it without us, too. Although we have long lost any remaining illusions regarding the unrestricted surveillance in Orbán’s regime, the articles hidden in the omnibus bill have legalized these activities for the services.

The only thing that could exonerate us to a certain extent is the millennia-old wisdom that to err is human, but to persist in error is diabolical. So we admit it: we made a mistake!

The board of Jobbik’s parliamentary group

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Source: MTI