Viktor Orbán

Orbán married Anikó Lévai, a jurist, in 1986. They have four daughters, Ráhel, Sára, Róza, and Flóra, and a son, Gáspár, who is a retired footballer. They are also grandparents of two grandchildren.

He has interest in sports, especially football, and was a professional player of the football team ‘Felcsút FC.’ He has also helped create a modern football academy to train young Hungarian footballers.

Orbán was born on May 31, 1963, in Székesfehérvár, to Győző Orbán and Erzsébet Sipos. His father was an agronomist and entrepreneur, and his mother was a speech therapist and special educator. He was the eldest of the three sons in his rural middle-class family. He grew up with his younger brothers, Győző Jr. and Áron.

During his early childhood, his family lived in Alcsútdoboz and Felcsút, villages in Fejér County, where he attended elementary school. In 1977, the family moved to Székesfehérvár, where Orbán attended the ‘Blanka Teleki High School.’ He graduated in 1981. He spent two years in military service and then completed law studies from ‘Eötvös Loránd University’ in Budapest.

Back then, a membership of the communist youth organization (KISZ) was essential for university admission. Thus, in his secondary grammar school, he became a member and then secretary of the ‘KISZ.’ However, during his military service, his views changed and he no longer supported the communist regime.

After finishing studies in 1987, he worked in Budapest as a sociologist at the ‘Management Training Institute of the Ministry of Agriculture and Food,’ for two years.

He was awarded a ‘Soros Foundation’ scholarship in 1989, through which he studied political science at ‘Pembroke College’ of the ‘University of Oxford.’

Orbán was a founding member of the party ‘Fiatal DemoKraták Szövetsége,’ or the ‘Alliance of Young Democrats,’ also known as the ‘Fidesz’ party. The party was founded in March 1988, and he soon became the spokesperson of the party. During the reburial of former premier Imre Nagy and other martyrs of the 1956 ‘Hungarian Revolution,’ Orbán delivered an address at the ‘Heroes’ Square’ in Budapest. This speech, delivered on June 16, 1989, in which he called for free elections and the withdrawal of the Soviet army, brought him wide recognition.

In 1990, the first democratic parliamentary elections were held in Hungary, putting an end to nearly half a century of communist rule. Orbán was elected as a member of parliament (MP) from the ‘Pest County Regional List’ and was made the leader of ‘Fidesz’s parliamentary group.

Earlier, ‘Fidesz’ was run by the collective leadership of the national board, and then Orbán became its first president on April 18, 1993. He was elected as an MP from the ‘Fejér County Regional List’ during the 1994 parliamentary elections. During this term, he was the chairman of the parliamentary committee on European integration affairs. Owing to the party’s poor performance, Orbán formed alliances with center–right groups and slowly altered the party from a radical liberal student group to a center–right party. He met with opposition, and there was split within the group.

‘Fidesz,’ along with its alliances, won the 1998 parliamentary elections with 42% of the total votes and formed a coalition with other parties. Orbán, at 35, became the second-youngest prime minister of Hungary.

He implemented reforms in state administration ministries and made changes to steer the country toward a free-market economy. In 1999, Hungary joined the ‘North Atlantic Treaty Organization’ (NATO) under his guidance. His government took steps to obliterate university tuition fees and offered universal maternity benefits. His tenure saw a drop in inflation. Along with Czech Republic and Poland, Hungary joined ‘NATO’ in March 1999.