Parliament elected András Baka, the former President of the Supreme Court, as President of the Republic on August 11, after he had been nominated by the governing Tisza group. Baka was elected by MPs in a secret ballot with 140 votes in favour and 6 against, with opposition Fidesz and the Christian Democrats (KDNP) not taking part in the vote.
From today on Hungary’s President is András Baka
In line with the parliamentary resolution on the election, the new head of state is taking office on August 19, and in accordance with the 17th amendment to the Fundamental Law, his term of office will last until the new constitution comes into force, but for no longer than five years, MTI wrote.
Parliament elected a new President of the Republic because, following the 17th amendment to the Fundamental Law, Taműs Sulyok’s term as head of state expired at midnight on 20 July. His powers were temporarily assumed by Parliamenary Speaker Ágnes Forsthoffer.
Previous President did not resign
Péter Magyar, chairman of the Tisza Party, called on President Sulyok — and several other senior state officials appointed by the former Orbán government — to step down from their posts on the night of the April 12 election, which saw the two-thirds victory for the Tisza Party and the defeat of the Fidesz-KDNP coalition that had been in power since 2010.
He repeated this call on several occasions, setting a deadline of May 31 for his resignation, and indicated that if he did not resign, Sulyok would be removed from office by virtue of the powers granted to them. The head of state did not comply with the demand.
On 1 June, Magyar, accompanied by the Minister of Justice, visited the President of the Republic and subsequently announced that if Sulyok did not resign from his post, the Fundamental Law would be amended to remove him from office.
On 4 July, the government submitted a proposal to initiate the 17th amendment to the Fundamental Law, which stated that: on the day following the amendment’s entry into force, the term of office of the incumbent President of the Republic shall cease, and parliament will elect a President of the Republic to serve until the new Constitution comes into force, but for a maximum of five years.
Demonstration for Sulyok held before
Fidesz and KDNP protested against the planned constitutional amendment and, on 9 July, organised a demonstration at the President’s office at Sándor Palace against the “establishment of an authoritarian regime” and the removal of the head of state.
On 13 July, parliament adopted the 17th amendment to the Fundamental Law, and five days later, Sulyok announced that he would sign it, while expressing serious objections to its content, describing the amendment as a grave and shameful historical example of the abuse of political power.
Hungary’s new president Baka already more popular than predecessor Sulyok ever was, poll finds
Sulyok’s removal was not unconstitutional
On 8 August, the Tisza parliamentary group nominated Baka as a candidate for the presidency. The opposition Our Homeland party proposed Máté Tóth, an energy lawyer, for the post, but the six-member parliamentary group failed to attach the signatures of 40 MPs, required for the nomination to be valid.
The Fidesz and KDNP parliamentary groups did not take part in the election of the new President of the Republic, stating that they consider the removal of Sulyok to be illegitimate. The two opposition parties also appealed to the Constitutional Court regarding the 17th amendment to the Fundamental Law, but on August 17 the Court rejected the petition on the grounds that it lacked jurisdiction.
PM Magyar wished President András Baka good health, “as much humanity as possible” in his work in a Facebook post, MTI wrote.
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