Gábor Ferenczi (born 28 May 1977) is a Hungarian educator and politician, who has been the mayor of

Devecser Devecser () is a town in Veszprém County, Hungary. In the Middle Ages there were five villages in the area of today's Devecser: Devecser, Kisdevecser, Szék, Meggyes, and Patony. These villages expanded in the 12th and 13th century. There is an ...

since 2014. Prior to that, he was a member of the

National Assembly In politics, a national assembly is either a unicameral legislature, the lower house of a bicameral legislature, or both houses of a bicameral legislature together. In the English language it generally means "an assembly composed of the repre ...

(MP) from 2010 to 2014. He was a politician of the far-right

Jobbik The Movement for a Better Hungary ( hu, Jobbik Magyarországért Mozgalom), commonly known as Jobbik (), is a conservative political party in Hungary. Originating with radical and nationalist roots, at its beginnings, the party described itself ...

, then

Our Homeland Movement Our Homeland Movement (Hungarian language, Hungarian: ''Mi Hazánk Mozgalom,'' MHM) is a Hungarian Far-right politics, far-right political party founded by Ásotthalom mayor and former Jobbik Vice-President László Toroczkai and other Jobbik dis ...

Career

Gábor Ferenczi was born in

Ajka Ajka () is a city in Hungary with about 35,000 inhabitants. It is situated in the hills of Bakony. History Around 1000 BCE, the area was inhabited by Celts. By the second century CE, the territory was conquered by the Romans. The Hungarians occup ...

on 28 May 1977. He graduated as a Hungarian-German teacher in 1999 and as a cultural organizer in the Teacher Training College Faculty of the

Eötvös Loránd University Eötvös Loránd University ( hu, Eötvös Loránd Tudományegyetem, ELTE) is a Hungarian public research university based in Budapest. Founded in 1635, ELTE is one of the largest and most prestigious public higher education institutions in Hung ...

(ELTE). He joined the paramilitary

Magyar Gárda Magyar Gárda Mozgalom (English: ''Hungarian Guard Movement'') founded by Magyar Gárda Hagyományőrző és Kulturális Egyesület (English: ''Hungarian Guard Association for Preservation of Traditions and Culture'') was a patriotic-nationalist ...

in the spring of 2008. He was a founding member and president of the local branch of the Jobbik in Ajka since 2008. He was elected president of the party's branch in

Veszprém County Veszprém ( hu, Veszprém megye, ; german: Komitat Wesprim (Weißbrunn)) is an administrative county (''megye'') in Hungary. Veszprém is also the name of the capital city of Veszprém county. Veszprém county Veszprém county lies in western ...

in December 2008. He functioned as a vice-president of the party's electoral board since September 2009. Ferenczi was elected a Member of Parliament via the Veszprém County regional list of the Jobbik in the 2010 parliamentary election. He was involved in the Committee on Education, Science and Research from 2010 to 2014. He was also a member of that ad-hoc parliamentary committee, which investigated the alumina plant accident in his birthplace Ajka, between December 2010 and March 2012. Ferenczi ran for an individual seat for

Pápa Pápa is a historical town in Veszprém county, Hungary, located close to the northern edge of the Bakony Hills, and noted for its baroque architecture. With its 32,473 inhabitants (2011), it is the cultural, economic and tourism centre of the re ...

(Veszprém County 4th constituency) in the 2014 parliamentary election, but came to the second place after

Fidesz Fidesz – Hungarian Civic Alliance (; hu, Fidesz – Magyar Polgári Szövetség) is a right-wing populist and national-conservative political party in Hungary, led by Viktor Orbán. It was formed in 1988 under the name of Alliance of Young ...

candidate Zoltán Kovács and Ferenczi lost his parliamentary seat. Ferenczi was elected mayor of Devecser during the 2014 local elections. Simultaneously, he also became a member of the

Veszprém County Assembly The Veszprém County Assembly ( hu, Veszprém Megyei Közgyűlés) is the local legislative body of Veszprém County in the Central Transdanubia, in Hungary. Composition 2019 The Assembly elected at the 2019 local government elections, is made ...

, serving in this capacity until 2019. He was re-elected as mayor in 2017 (by-election) and

2019 File:2019 collage v1.png, From top left, clockwise: Hong Kong protests turn to widespread riots and civil disobedience; House of Representatives votes to adopt articles of impeachment against Donald Trump; CRISPR gene editing first used to experim ...

. After the 2018 parliamentary election, Ferenczi participated in the foundation of the internal opposition Ourselves political platform within the Jobbik. He left the Jobbik on 8 June 2018 and became a founding member and vice-president of the Our Homeland Movement. Ferenczi left the Our Homeland in June 2019.

Traffic accident

In May 2013, Ferenczi drove in Ajka when hit an elderly woman who died while being transported to the hospital. He was charged with negligent causing a fatal road accident. Gábor Ferenczi waived his immunity, but appealed against the suspicion, which was rejected by the Prosecutor General's Office. According to Ferenczi, the accident could not have been avoided. On 30 September 2015, the District Court of Ajka sentenced him to one year of probation, suspended for two years, and banned him from driving for three years. In his reasoning, the judge said the delay in perceiving and acting was to blame for the accused, but the intent was not. The Court of Veszprém upheld the judgment at first instance.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Ferenczi, Gabor 1977 births Living people Hungarian educators Eötvös Loránd University alumni Jobbik politicians Our Homeland Movement politicians Members of the National Assembly of Hungary (2010–2014) Mayors of places in Hungary People from Ajka