Members of the far right wing Jobbik Party march in Budapest. Image by getty images

Hardliners in Hungary’s main right-wing main opposition party demanded on Tuesday that it return to its far-right roots, once notorious for racism and hostility to the European Union, or face an internal split.

Jobbik recently adopted a milder right-wing ideology to challenge the increasingly nationalist, eurosceptic Fidesz party of Prime Minister Viktor Orban at the ballot box. But Orban scored a third straight landslide election victory on April 8.

Orban’s triumph forced his opponents to rethink strategy and opened up divisions in several opposition parties.

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Laszlo Toroczkai, Jobbik’s vice chairman and a former far-right youth leader, told reporters he had formed a new hardline platform and gave party leaders until June 23 to integrate it in party policy or risk a break-up of Jobbik.

He said the platform entailed a return to goals pursued by the original Jobbik, including an end to immigration, stemming emigration of Hungarian youth to the wealthier west of the EU, a tough line on Hungary’s Roma minority and support for ethnic Hungarian minorities in neighboring states.

“If they don’t deal with us, or reject the platform, that could even lead to a split, greatly damaging Jobbik,” he said.

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