Battle lines drawn: President Sulyok refuses to resign after PM Magyar’s demand – UPDATE: Fidesz reacts

Hungary’s President Sulyok Tamás has responded to Prime Minister Magyar Péter’s calls for him to resign, saying he will not step down after considering the option. In a video message, Sulyok argued that resignation “would not provide a solution to the constitutional settlement of the institutional conflict”, and instead stressed cooperation with the current Tisza-led government, according to 24.hu.

Sulyok: resignation would not solve the “institutional conflict”

In his statement, Sulyok said that the president must cooperate with the government of the day, while the government should likewise cooperate with a head of state elected by the previous parliament. He criticised recent prime ministerial remarks as unusually confrontational in tone between state institutions, claiming they amounted to one-sided demands and instructions directed at the presidency, including calls for his resignation.

Sulyok maintained that this dynamic creates a “seriously contradictory situation”, but insisted he would continue to carry out his constitutional duties.

EU funds and the ICC law among the points raised

Sulyok also sought to reassure the government that he would not obstruct its work, explicitly referencing legislation linked to the accessibility of EU funds.

He said he had acted in a cooperative spirit in other recent decisions as well, including signing a law restoring Hungary’s participation in the International Criminal Court (ICC) framework, as reported by 24.hu.

If you missed it – ICC: Hungary’s parliament votes to halt withdrawal and stay in the court – what’s next?

He closed by saying that, faithful to his oath, he would continue to serve as president and exercise the powers laid out in Hungary’s Fundamental Law.

Magyar Péter’s response and the deadline

Magyar Péter had set 31 May as a deadline for Sulyok to leave office voluntarily, and previously said he planned to visit the president on Monday, accompanied by the justice minister.

Reacting to the video, Magyar accused Sulyok of failing to stand up for vulnerable people and for the rule of law, and claimed the president was primarily defending his salary. Magyar wrote that the president’s monthly pay is HUF 6.3 million (around €17,800).

Magyar also pointed to the benefits that former heads of state can retain after leaving office (such as staff support and services).

Polling: nearly two-thirds say the president should resign

The controversy comes amid fresh polling suggesting significant public dissatisfaction with Sulyok’s performance. A 21 Kutatóközpont survey found that around two-thirds of respondents believe the president has not successfully embodied “the unity of the nation”, and a majority said it would be best if he resigned voluntarily.

The poll’s methodology published by 21 Kutatóközpont describes a telephone survey conducted between 9–13 May 2026 with a sample of 1,000, weighted to census parameters, and a reported margin of error of roughly ±3 percentage points.

Background for international readers: what the president can (and can’t) do in Hungary

Hungary is a parliamentary system where executive power is primarily exercised by the government led by the prime minister. The president is head of state with defined constitutional powers, including signing laws and certain appointment and oversight roles. The current president was elected by Fidesz—which suffered a heavy defeat in the election—and Prime Minister Viktor Orbán.

Sulyok’s central argument in the video is that institutional disputes should be handled within the constitutional framework, and that stepping down would not, in his view, resolve the underlying conflict between state organs.

For now, the confrontation looks set to continue into the coming week, with Magyar’s planned visit to the presidential office adding another flashpoint to a rapidly escalating institutional standoff.

Magyar: Leaders who spread fake news must also leave public media

On election day, Péter Magyar said that public media’s news coverage would be suspended immediately due to its bias and lack of balance, but this has not yet happened.

However, today the prime minister wrote:

since it has been proven that the materials disparaging Tisza in the public media were produced on the instructions of the executives, CEOs Dániel Papp and Anita Altorjai must leave immediately!

What’s next? Putin’s surprising message to PM Péter Magyar about Ukraine

UPDATE: Fidesz says removing the president would amount to a “violent dictatorship”

Hungary’s ruling Fidesz party has accused opposition figure Péter Magyar of undermining the constitutional order after he called for President Tamás Sulyok to be removed from office, arguing that such an act belongs to dictatorships rather than democracies.

“Removing a republic president from office by force is something that happens in dictatorships,” Fidesz’s parliamentary group leader wrote on Facebook, according to Hungary’s state news agency MTI.

In a statement carried by MTI, Fidesz said it “stands by the head of state” and claimed Magyar was “unconstitutionally attacking” the president while pursuing “unlawful ultimatums”. The party insisted that, under Hungary’s constitutional system, the length of mandate for senior public office-holders is not set by political pressure and that “no deadline” exists in the sense suggested by Magyar.

Fidesz also described a planned Monday-morning visit by Prime Minister Viktor Orbán to President Sulyok’s office as “another open act of blackmail”, framing the situation as an attempt to exert pressure on the country’s constitutional institutions.