Navracsics, who was party leader Viktor Orbán’s chief of staff until today, accepted the nomination after former group leader János Áder, deputy chairman Zoltán Pokorni, and former finance minister Mihály Varga declined requests to take up the post last week. Orbán himself was among those considered as potential candidates.
The Christian Democratic People’s Party (KDNP) also formed its own parliamentary group on Monday with party chairman Zsolt Semjén elected as group leader. KDNP got into parliament on a joint ticket with Fidesz at last month’s general election but soon after decided to go it alone. Fidesz and KDNP have, however, created a new umbrella formation to be called the Hungarian Solidarity Alliance, chaired by Fidesz leader Viktor Orbán and co-chaired by Semjén. Fidesz and its election ally KDNP will altogether have 164 seats in Hungary’s 386-member new parliament.