In wake of Sunday's defeat, Anna Donáth resigns as head of Momentum, entire leadership follows suit

On Monday morning at an internal forum of Momentum, Anna Donáth announced her resignation from the position of party leader – Telex learned from several sources, and shortly afterwards, Donáth also announced the news publicly on Facebook. It was later revealed that the entire leadership of the party was leaving.

"Our result in the EP elections is a failure – even though I feel that the voters were mainly saying 'yes' to strength, not 'no' to our work in the EP," the Momentum president wrote in her post, and then went on to list the party's successes in the local elections. In Budapest's district of Zugló, Momentum's mayoral candidate defeated Fides and MSZP, András Pikó and Tamás Soproni managed to get reelected, and Momentum candidates were able to win Bánréve, Vámospércs, Keszthely and Győr – and in fact took them over from Fidesz.

"Do what you believe in, the best way you know how, and go to bed every night with a clear conscience – that's my philosophy. I will continue to practice politics in this way. And I will keep my conscience clear by taking responsibility and resigning as head of our party," said Donáth.

The party will hold an election in early July. Until then, Donáth and the board will lead the party as executive directors. In the meantime, András Fekete-Győr, Momentum's former chairman has already announced his candidacy for the post. "I am doing this because in light of yesterday's election results, I believe that a change is needed in Momentum if it is to be successful again. The election result as a whole is a dramatic low point in Momentum's history," the party's MP wrote on his Facebook page.

"I am ready to reverse the negative trend. I know that there is a need for a modern, progressive, proactive force in Hungarian politics".

According to Fekete-Győr, on Sunday, Hungary saw a political revolution demanding a systemic change, and in the election, broad masses of voters made it clear that they had had enough of the old power elite, which is interested in dividing the country. "Momentum cannot and will not be a part of this power elite that the voters have decided to replace. Momentum is the party of a political generation change, and it will bring about this generation change." He promised to win back the trust of the broad masses of voters with a clear, understandable offer and consistent politicking.

Momentum won just 3.68 percent of the vote in Sunday's EP elections, which wasn't enough for even a single seat. Five years ago, 9.93 percent of the electorate voted for Momentum and they were able to delegate two MEPs, Anna Donáth and Katalin Cseh, to the European Parliament.

This time, they also failed to get elected to Budapest's Municipal Assembly, finishing with 4.98 percent in the list vote. Momentum has a mayor in three Budapest districts (Tamás Soproni in Terézváros, András Pikó in Józsefváros and András Rózsa in Zugló), but they did not win in any of the county municipalities.

Donáth was president of Momentum for half a year from autumn 2021, and returned to leading the party in January after Ferenc Gelencsér resigned. The role of party president will not be unfamiliar to András Fekete-Győr either: he led the party from its founding until autumn 2021. He stepped down after the first round of the opposition primaries because he fell far short of expectations in the race for prime minister.