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

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

Jobbik The Jobbik – Movement for a Better Hungary (, ), commonly known as Jobbik (), and previously known as Conservatives () between 2023 and 2024, is a Conservatism, conservative List of political parties in Hungary, political party in Hungary. Ori ...

, then

Our Homeland Movement Our Homeland Movement ( Hungarian: ''Mi Hazánk Mozgalom'', '','' Mi Hazánk, MHM, MH) is a Hungarian far-right political party. It was founded by Ásotthalom mayor and former Jobbik Vice-President, László Toroczkai, along with other Jobbik ...

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 Roman Empire, Romans. The Hu ...

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 (, ELTE, also known as ''University of Budapest'') 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 ...

(ELTE). He joined the paramilitary

Magyar Gárda Magyar Gárda Mozgalom (, English language, English: ''Hungarian Guard Movement''), founded by Magyar Gárda Hagyományőrző és Kulturális Egyesület (English language, English: ''Hungarian Guard Association for Preservation of Traditions an ...

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 (, ; ) is an administrative county (''vármegye'') in Hungary. Veszprém is also the name of the capital city of Veszprém county. Veszprém county Veszprém county lies in western Hungary. It covers the Bakony hills and the norther ...

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 28,549 inhabitants (2024), it is the cultural, economic and tourism centre of the r ...

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

Fidesz Fidesz – Hungarian Civic Alliance (; ) is a national-conservative political party in Hungary led by Viktor Orbán. It has increasingly identified as illiberal. Originally formed in 1988 under the name of Alliance of Young Democrats () as ...

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

2019 This was the year in which the first known human case of COVID-19 was documented, preceding COVID-19 pandemic, the pandemic which was declared by the World Health Organization the following year. Up to that point, 2019 had been described as ...

. 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