Vienna, July 18 (EFE).- Hungarian President Tamás Sulyok announced Saturday that he had signed the constitutional amendment that will bring his term to an end on Monday, despite considering the amendment an “abuse of political power.»
»With a single sentence, this amendment terminates the mandate of the sitting President of the Republic. That sentence joins the ranks of those forced Gordian-knot fixes that will remain for posterity as grave and shameful historical examples of abuse of political power,” Sulyok, a politician linked to former Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orbán, stated in a video.
Parliament Speaker Ágnes Forsthoffer will assume presidential duties on an interim basis until a new head of state is appointed.
Hungarian Prime Minister Péter Magyar, a conservative, had already promised during the April parliamentary elections’ campaign that if he came to power, he would dismantle the “Orbán system,” which included the removal of the president and other high-ranking officials.
Magyar won the elections by a wide margin, ending 16 consecutive years of rule by the ultra-nationalist Orbán, but removing the head of state required amending the Constitution.
The package containing the corresponding constitutional amendments, approved on Monday, included a five-day deadline for the president to sign it or refer it to the Constitutional Court.
Magyar Seeks Candidate Nominations
Magyar, who had threatened Sulyok with impeachment proceedings should he refuse to sign, confirmed on Saturday that the highest office of the state will become vacant on Monday.
The Hungarian Constitution provides that the National Assembly (Országgyűlés) elects the president, but regarding the appointment of Sulyok’s successor, the prime minister said he expects to receive candidate nominations from “political parties, public figures, civil society, and private citizens.”
“I am confident that we will succeed in electing a president of the Republic who will be capable, in every sense, of fostering national unity and representing our beloved homeland with dignity,” Magyar stated in a message and video posted on social media.
The prime minister welcomed that “the final obstacle” to the constitutional reform package taking effect had thus been overcome.
Among other measures, the reform sets a maximum age of 70 for Constitutional Court justices, which will result in the removal of four justices, including the court’s president, Peter Polt, an ally of Orbán.
“With these decisions, we are giving back to the Hungarian people something that the Orbán regime tried to take away from them for many years: the certainty that power has limits, that public assets can be recovered, and that the state can once again serve its citizens,” he said.
Meanwhile, Orbán stated that the entry into force of the new laws means that in his country, “arbitrariness is no longer a threat, but a reality.”
“If this could be done to the president of the Republic, then no one will be safe tomorrow. May God protect Hungary!” the former leader wrote on social media from the United States.
His party, Fidesz, accused Magyar and his party, Tisza, of having led the country into “a period of open tyranny.”
Sulyok, a 70-year-old lawyer, was elected president of Hungary by Parliament in February 2024 with the votes of Fidesz, which at the time held two-thirds of the seats. EFE
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