National Portrait Gallery: Gábor Vona

Gábor Vona was born in 1978, in the town of Gyöngyös. His parents were small farmers and he was brought up with strong traditional values. His parents are retied but his aunt is still active as a farmer. He attended the Eötvös Loránd University receiving a Teaching Degree in History. However, he worked only for a short time as a teacher. Currently, he is a product manager for a security firm.

He is married and has one son.

One of the influences in his life was the memory of his grandfather who died fighting against the Red Army, during the Second World War. He was a young man when died and saw his son only two times as a baby.

During his university years, Mr. Vona was active in the Christian Student Committee. Later, he became the president of the Christian Intellectual Association (Keresztény Értelmiségiek Szövetsége). In 2002, for the invitation of Viktor Orban, he joined to the Association for the Nation Club (Szövetség a Nemzetért Polgári Kör).

He was one of the architects of the Conservative Youth Community that he considers one of the most decisive achievements of his early political career. In 2003, the Conservative Youth Community was transformed into a political party, called Jobbik. Mr. Vona was elected as one of the vice-presidents and in 2006, the president of the party.

The Hungarian Guard was also Mr. Vona's brainchild. It was founded in 2007 and turned out to be one of the most loved organizations in the country. The Hungarian Guard is fighting for the rights of the poor and terror stricken Hungarians living in crime infested areas.

Mr. Vona is working hard to establish Jobbik as a decisive force in the Hungarian political arena. Despite all odds, the popularity of Jobbik is growing by leaps and bounds. The liberal and the moderately nationalist media have been boycotting Mr. Vona and his party for a long time, but since the party's decisive victory during the EP Election Jobbik officials getting more coverage, both in the printed and the digital media.

Under the leadership of Mr. Vona, Jobbik receives increasing support in municipal and by-elections as well. According to recent polls Jobbik's support is around 10 percent and growing. This is well over the threshold limit necessary to get into the parliament in the upcoming general election, in 2010.

In a brilliant move, Mr. Vona recruited Krisztina Morvai to run as party candidate in the EU parliament election, in 2009. Ms. Morvai is a popular and tireless human rights activist, one of the founders of "The Foundation for Legal Defense of Hungarians’ Rights", made up by a group of lawyers active in investigating police brutality and government wrongdoings.

Mr. Vona introduced a new term into the oppressive "politically correct" discourse--gypsy crime. With this move, he earned all the hatred of the liberal establishment that was working hard to cover up gypsy crime that has been paralyzing large parts of the country.

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Zodiac sign: Leo
Eye color: Brown
Hair color: Brown
Weight: 82-84 kg
Favorite drink: Gyömbér, Irsai Oliver
Favorite brand: Boss and Hungarian brands
Favorite car brand: BMW
Favorite rock bands: Depeche Mode, Nirvana, Therapy, Ismerős Arcok
Favorite writers: Béla Hamvas, Konrad Lorenz, Friedrich Nietzsche
Favorite book: Béla Hamvas: Scientia Sacra
Favorite color: Black
Favorite city: Sopron
Favorite countries: Hungary, Greece

I'm afraid of bugs
I can dance after having two glasses of wine
I studied piano and guitar
I can cook: my specialties are Greek salad and stake
I don't smoke

Hobby: Reading
Idols: Attila, Saint László

(jobbik.hu - vonagabor.hu - hungarianambiance.com)