Former Fidesz MP candidate and chief prosecutor Péter Polt elected head of Hungary’s Constitutional Court – UPDATED

Constitutional Court Péter Polt
Photo: MTI

Péter Polt has been elected head of the Constitutional Court on Wednesday. Meanwhile, the Parliament’s judicial committee voted to support the nomination of Ákos Kozma to fill a vacant post on the Constitutional Court.

Former chief prosecutor Polt elected head of Hungary’s Constitutional Court

The former chief prosecutor was elected by Parliament in a secret vote with 134 votes in favour, 13 votes against and no abstentions. He was elected as a member of the Constitutional Court in May and took office this week.

Ombudsman Ákos Kozma was elected as member of the Constitutional Court by Parliament, also in a secret vote and with the same vote proportions, for twelve years. He will take office on September 26.

Constitutional Court Péter Polt
Ákos Kozma (c), Gábor Bálint Nagy (r) and Péter Polt (l) in the Hungarian Parliament today. Photo: MTI

Lawmakers also decided to elect Bálint Gábor Nagy, department head at the Chief Prosecutor’s Office, as Chief Prosecutor, also in secret vote and also with 134 votes in favour and 13 votes against, for nine years.

The new president of the Constitutional Court as well as the new Chief Prosecutor took the oath before Parliament.

Parliament committee approves Kozma’s nomination for Constitutional Court

Parliament’s judicial committee on Tuesday voted to support the nomination of Ákos Kozma, selected by the ruling parties, to fill a vacant post on the Constitutional Court.

Kozma has been ombudsman for the past six years. In his committee hearing, he said “legal protection is not just a technical routine ; a constitutional judge’s work is … a moral obligation, an institutional guarantee of public trust, solidarity within society, and of the protection of personal rights.” Parliament will later vote on Kozma’s CC membership.

UPDATE – New chief prosecutor: ‘Position once-in-a-lifetime honour’

“This is an honour that happens only once in a lifetime,” Gabor Balint Nagy, the new chief public prosecutor, said on his position in an interview published on the website of the Chief Prosecutor’s Office on Thursday.

“The aim is for Hungary’s public prosecution to perform its constitutional duty as a community of colleagues performing at a high professional level … I am a good team player, so I like to listen to the professional position of others supported by arguments, and … like to play with open cards,” Balint Gabor Nagy said.

The public prosecutor’s office “is independent of the executive and the legislative branch alike,” Nagy said.

In the past years, Hungary’s public prosecution has been successful of some 99 percent of the cases tried, pointing to “an extremely high level of professional work,” he said.

Nagy noted that the international position of the Hungarian prosecution service was excellent, for example in relation to the European Public Prosecutor’s Office. The European Chief Prosecutor repeatedly said that among non-participating member states, the European Public Prosecutor’s Office had by far the best relationship with the Hungarian prosecution service, and the same can be said about OLAF, the European Anti-Fraud Office.

Nagy was elected as Chief Prosecutor by Parliament on Wednesday.

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