Hungary’s parliament elected András Baka, the former head of the Supreme Court, as President of the Republic on Tuesday. Baka, the candidate of the ruling Tisza Party, was elected head of state with 140 votes in favour and 6 against in a secret ballot. Orbán’s Fidesz and the KDNP did not participate on the vote. Baka will assume office on the eighth day following the announcement of the election result.
Hungarians cannot avoid confronting the past at the beginning of a new era, Baka, the president-elect said in a speech to parliament on Tuesday. In his address after his election, Baka emphasised the need to understand “how the nation reached this point”. The president-elect said Hungary had “wasted a generation’s worth of time, slipping from a model student during the time of the democratic transition to the ranks of lagging nations”.
He said that he had accepted the nomination “because I think that Hungary has arrived at a point in its history when it needs to seriously contemplate the operation of the state, constitutionality and the country as community.” Baka, who was the sole candidate for the post, said the National Assembly’s decision to elect him was “a great honour, recognition and exceptional trust. The candidacy itself was also unexpected, overwhelming and an honour,” he said.
Past regime failed to meet basic democratic rule-of-law requirements
Baka said that before 2026, the Hungarian state had failed to meet one of the most fundamental requirements of a democratic rule-of-law system: the genuine separation of powers and a functioning system of checks and balances.
Baka said Hungary had developed a system in which a single party had captured the state and its institutions, culminating in years of governance by decree that largely bypassed parliament. “It is the responsibility of us all to ensure such a system never emerges again in Hungary,” he said.
Expressing national unity means political neutrality, but never neutrality on values
Expressing the unity of the nation first and foremost means political neutrality, but it must never mean neutrality on values, he said. Baka said that a modern, democratic society was inherently diverse, with coexisting worldviews, political convictions, lifestyles and interests. “There may even be deep, sometimes irreconcilable divisions among them,” he said.
Here are some photos from the Parliament:
As president, Baka said, he must represent this diverse community and always acknowledge the legitimacy of differing views, as well as the right of both majority and minority positions to be heard. The president’s role, he said, was not to manufacture consensus where none exists, but to represent the idea that “citizens with differing views are equal members of the same nation.“
A democratic institution’s authority is defined by its ability to remain true to its function, even in situations of conflict, he added. A democratic institution’s authority did not come from operating without conflict, but from its ability to stay true to its mission even amid disputes. He added that he intended to uphold this principle as president.
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Constitution’s stability hinges on broad societal ownership
A constitution’s stability rests on its being regarded as belonging to the broadest sections of society, Baka said. He warned that once again drafting a constitution “solely as the document of a temporary majority” would result in repeating the mistake the consequences of which Hungary was now attempting to rectify.
Drafting a constitution required more than mere parliamentary legislation, he said. “A wide-ranging societal and expert debate, genuine political consensus, and a process that in itself reflects the democratic culture the new constitution will later be tasked with upholding” was also necessary, he said.
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