Outgoing Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orbán admitted his "unequivocal defeat" in last weekend's elections and spoke of his trauma at being removed from power after 16 years as prime minister, UNN reports, citing Euractiv.
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In his first extensive interview since the vote, he took full personal responsibility for the devastating result, which followed a record voter turnout, and announced a complete restructuring of his ruling Fidesz party.
"The numbers speak clearly, this is an unequivocal defeat," he told the right-wing publication Patrióta.
"If you ask about my feelings, I can say that I felt pain, and by Monday, emptiness. Since then, I have been treating myself with occupational therapy, trying to push out this emptiness or fill it," Orbán said.
Orbán, 62, firmly placed the blame on his own shoulders. As president of Fidesz, he admitted that he bears "responsibility for the result" and takes 100% of the blame for the election failure.
"Our campaign didn't work," he said. "A political era has ended, emotionally as well. We cannot continue our policies as we have done so far. A complete renewal is needed, and this applies not only to Fidesz but to the entire national side."
When asked to name the main government failure over the past 16 years, Orbán directly pointed to the delayed expansion of the Paks Nuclear Power Plant, which led to Hungary's increased dependence on Russian oil and gas via the Druzhba pipeline.
"We should have built Paks-2 much faster. If we had been able to build it faster, the Hungarian economy would be in a much easier position today, because we would have more energy, and it would be cheaper," Orbán noted.
Fidesz will immediately begin reorganization, with a party congress scheduled for April 28, and a complete leadership overhaul to be completed by the end of June.
"This restructuring will involve significant personnel changes," he said. "If I am told that I need to prepare the equipment in the locker room for the next winning team, then I will do it. But if necessary, as team captain, I will also lead the guys onto the field."