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VOLNER EXPELLED FROM JOBBIK PARLT GROUP

The parliamentary group of conservative opposition Jobbik has expelled János Volner, one of the party’s deputy leaders, from its ranks.

The move came after he Volner sent a letter to Jobbik’s grassroots leaders calling for the installation of a new party leadership. He scorned attempts to forge a close alliance with green party LMP and lamented

Jobbik’s “current catastrophic state of affairs,” and insisted that members were deserting the party in droves. Jobbik’s parliamentary group on Friday convened an extraordinary meeting after which Péter Jakab, one of the party’s MPs, held a press conference announcing Volner’s expulsion. Jakab also said that lawmakers István Apáti and Erik Fülöp had decided to quit the parliamentary group over Volner’s expulsion.

Jakab said Jobbik’s leadership had launched an ethics inquiry into Volner “over his actions in the past three months”, adding that Volner’s letter “was the last straw “. He said the letter was “very hard to interpret as other than something that would affect Jobbik negatively, and whatever affects Jobbik negatively helps [ruling] Fidesz”.