BREAKING: Former PM Gyurcsány withdraws from public life, wife takes over the party, she announces divorce – UPDATE: Dobrev will be the new leader
Opposition Democratic Coalition party leader and parliamentary group leader Ferenc Gyurcsány will step down from his posts of DK leader and group leader, return his mandate as MP, withdraw from public life, and he will not run at the election, party MEP Klára Dobrev said on Thursday.
Dobrev said on Facebook that Gyurcsány wanted to put an end to “the Hungarian right wing falsely blaming Gyurcsány for everything in order to flee from all of their sins, cover up all troubles and make it impossible for people, programmes and policies to succeed”.
Dobrev said the party’s board had acknowledged Gyurcsány’s decision and a new leader would be elected. She also said that she and Gyurcsány would divorce but added that neither of them would reveal any further details, and she asked everyone to respect this decision.
Yesterday former Momentum chairman András Fekete-Győr announced that he would leave his political community if it decided to run on the next general election.
The Democratic Coalition decided before that they would run on the 2026 election and, based on the polls, they have a chance to get at least 6-7 mandated in the new parliament.
UPDATE 1 – Fidesz: Gyurcsány quitting ‘changes nothing’
The announcement that Gyurcsány Ferenc is quitting his political posts and retiring from public life “changes nothing” as the opposition Democratic Coalition (DK) “will follow Brussels’ instructions whatever the case”, the ruling Fidesz parliamentary party group said. Fidesz said in a post on Facebook on Thursday that DK MEP Klára Dobrev would be at the helm of the leftist party and remain “pro-Ukrainian”, “just like the Tisza Party and [its leader] Péter Magyar”.
UPDATE 2 – Dobrev will be new leader, MEP Molnár is sure
The opposition Democratic Coalition is embarking on a new chapter and down a new path with Klára Dobrev as its leader, the party’s deputy leader said on Friday. Addressing the subject of former DK leader Ferenc Gyurcsány’s resignation and retirement from public life, Csaba Molnár told a press conference that DK’s community considered Gyurcsány “the country’s most honest prime minister” after the fall of communism.
He noted that DK MEP Klára Dobrev has announced her candidacy in the party’s next leadership election, adding he was certain that she would be elected. DK’s leadership election is scheduled to be held online between May 28 and June 1, Molnár said, adding that he will serve as the party’s acting leader until a new one is chosen.
He confirmed that DK will run its own party list and candidates in all 106 constituencies in the 2026 general election and announced that Dobrev plans to continue as an MP after the ballot. Gyurcsány’s seat in parliament will be taken up by deputy leader and former MEP Sándor Rónai, he said.
Molnár also said that Dobrev is scheduled to give a speech on the essence of DK’s policies this Sunday. Asked why Gyurcsány chose to retire now, Molnár said the former prime minister wanted to “put an end, once and for all, to the right getting away with all its crimes by pointing the finger at him”. As regards the timing of Gyurcsány’s announcement, he said the former leader wanted to give the new leadership enough time to prepare for the 2026 election.
“Gyurcsány resigned of his own volition; no one pressured him to do so,” Molnár said. He also said there was no link between Gyurcsány’s resignation and his divorce from Dobrev.
“My time has come and I am not alone,” says Dobrev
“My time has come and I am not alone,” Dobrev said on Facebook on Friday. A day after Ferenc Gyurcsány, her husband, resigned from his post of DK chair, Dobrev said she felt “able and ready to fight again”. She said she could not abandon her community of “struggling mothers, young people striving for a better life, and those that are nearing the end of their years but who are still full of plans and confidence”.
“Hungary deserves more; it could be made a fairer, more loyal and more European place,” she said. “A country cannot be kept in darkness. Honesty is not weakness, while love and empathy are not naivety but strength,” Dobrev added.
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He should have done this yesrs ago, and given his side of the opposition a chance. As it is, Tisza is providing the opposition now, and G’s ludicrous coalition from the neo-nazi jobbik to the far left Greens is now largely irrelevant.
Politics in Hungary will be better off without this FAILED and Disgraced Prime Minister – Politician.
Orbans “rolling” of him, never was there to be a “second” coming for Gyurcsany.
Gyurcsany – has dismally FAILED to keep his (4) four marriages to-gether whether alone trying to be a Prime Minister of Hungary, that left as his LEGACY a country in a cataclysmic DISASTER.
Gyurcsany – his “overdue” departure, gives the Tisza Party – CLEARER Skies and increased opportunities in the growing stronger likelihood, they WILL be the next Government of Hungary come Spring 2026.
I wonder who forced him to do this, because it certainly wasn’t voluntary: just like Benedict, Trudeau, Jacinda, and a bunch of others. They don’t do these things out of a sense of any duty to the country, that’s for sure.
He was an absolute disaster while in office, having made Hungary an I.M.F. vassal state. It doesn’t bear thinking about what the country would be like today if he would’ve been in power since 2015.
I do sympathize with him regarding his divorce–that’s always heartbreaking–but, good gosh, his private life is a total mess, too.
probably Fidesz putting him in their paycheck 🙂
Hungary – is in GOOD shape after 10 plus years of the Orban Government ?
Michael Steiner, this PSEUDONYM commentator, member(s) of the Fidesz Party, they ALL – are who write under the name Michael Steiner, we see again Ignorance and BLINDNESS.
Truth is Truth – the acceptance and practice of TRUTH, which is not witness from “the pens” of these Michael Steiner – multiple – Fidesz Member commentators.