Steven N.“I hereby leave Jobbik, and as an independent parliamentary representative I will remain in the ‘people’s party’ just as I have always been: blunt, aggressive, but always honest,” posted Péter Jakab on his Facebook page on Thursday afternoon, as a conflict between the opposition party and its former leader appeared to come to a head.
In an open letter addressed to party chair Márton Gyöngyösi, Jakab wrote:
As the new president of Jobbik, you faced an election today: if I remain in the people’s party, if I continue to bluntly, honestly, and aggressively stand up for those who have lost out in this crisis, the victims of the Orbán regime, then I have no place being in Jobbik. Well, Marci, then I have no place being in Jobbik. If I have to choose between the people and Jobbik, there is no question which one I will choose.
On Thursday, Gyöngyösi told Jakab that if he wanted to leave, then he should leave. According to Jakab, the party chair told him that “his politics are not a fit for Jobbik’s politics, and there is no need to be militant now, since we’re at peace, grass isn’t even growing, and anyway nobody is interested in politics at the moment.”
Péter Jakab was overwhelmingly re-elected as Jobbik president just three months ago, winning 71.4% of the vote in May. But he then resigned as party president in June, saying he could not work with Jobbik’s board. [444]
