In brief
The Hungarian parliament has approved the removal of President Tamás Sulyok, signalling a decisive shift in a country long dominated by former Prime Minister Viktor Orbán’s authoritarian policies. Prime Minister Péter Magyar’s Tisza party used a two‑thirds majority to pass a 17th constitutional amendment that ends Sulyok’s term and also re‑organises the Constitutional Court. Opponents, mainly from the defeated Fidesz party, decry the amendment as a power grab that risks a constitutional crisis. Sulyok has five days to sign the amendment or trigger impeachment, while the new government urges him to step down to preserve stability.
The Hungarian parliament has voted to remove President Tamás Sulyok from office, a move seen as a decisive break from the era of former Prime Minister Viktor Orbán who ruled for 16 years and lost power in April.
Prime Minister Péter Magyar’s Tisza party used its two‑thirds majority to steamroll the 17th amendment to the constitution, ending the term of Sulyok and the head of the Constitutional Court, Péter Polt. This vote was the most dramatic day in parliament since the new government took office in early May, following its stunning landslide victory against Orbán’s Fidesz party on 12 April.
Sulyok now has five days to sign the amendment – his own political death warrant – or refer it to the Constitutional Court. If he refers it, Magyar has threatened to launch impeachment proceedings that would automatically suspend him from office. He has also urged Sulyok to simply resign to avoid a constitutional crisis in the interest of the country.
Deputies of the opposition Fidesz party walked out before the Monday vote, accusing the Tisza party of building a tyranny. They argue the amendment grants the government the arbitrary power to dismiss any public official from office instantly.
Fidesz’s former presidential candidate Péter Rona said the great irony of the situation is that they have fallen foul of their own concept of power. The 2011 constitution, written by Orbán’s government, enshrined the principle that "the winner takes all".
From 2010 until 2026, Fidesz reshaped the Hungarian state to its own will, filling supposedly independent state positions with party loyalists using its two‑thirds majority. The amendment also removes Constitutional Court judges over 70 and forbids deputies who served three terms from standing again – affecting more than half the current Fidesz deputies.
Former Supreme Court head András Baka agreed with the removal of the president, arguing that Hungary was governed by the rule of law from 1989 to 2010 and that after Orbán’s takeover, the state became an authoritarian regime designed to survive even after electoral defeat.
