By Gergely Szakacs
BUDAPEST, July 18 (Reuters) – Hungarian President Tamas Sulyok has signed a constitutional amendment passed by Prime Minister Peter Magyar’s ruling Tisza party that ends his term as head of state, Sulyok said in a statement on Saturday.
The legislation was part of Magyar’s drive to dismantle former Prime Minister Viktor Orban’s bastions of power, for which Magyar says he received a strong mandate from voters after ousting the right-wing leader in an April election landslide.
The amendment will end Sulyok’s term immediately, citing society’s “serious loss of confidence” in a leader elected in early 2024 by lawmakers from Orban’s nationalist Fidesz party.
Sulyok said he had no choice but to rubber-stamp the legislation as it respected the letter of the law. However, the former Constitutional Court judge warned the reform has harmed the rule of law in Hungary.
“The seventeenth amendment to the Constitution has marked a watershed in Hungary’s constitutional democracy,” Sulyok said.
“By removing public office holders in a manner that openly violates the rule of law … it sets a negative precedent that inflicts a deep wound on the constitutional values of democracy, the separation of powers, and the rule of law.”
Orban, who critics say weakened democratic institutions during his 16 years in power, criticised the reforms on Facebook.
“Tyranny is no longer a threat but reality. If this could be done to the President, tomorrow, no one will be safe,” he said.
Fidesz has faced a series of high-profile resignations and a decline in public support since its election defeat in April.
PARLIAMENT SPEAKER TO SERVE AS INTERIM PRESIDENT
Parliament, where Magyar’s centre-right Tisza party has a two-thirds majority that allows it to change any laws, will elect a new president until a new constitution takes effect, or for a maximum of five years.
Earlier on Saturday, as the deadline for Sulyok to act on the legislation approached, Magyar posted a photograph of himself drinking coffee on a terrace while wearing sunglasses.
After Sulyok signed the amendment, Magyar said Parliament Speaker Agnes Forsthoffer would assume the role of interim president from Monday.
“With these decisions, we are restoring something that the Orban regime spent many years trying to take away from the Hungarian people,” he said in a Facebook post.
“The certainty that power can be constrained, that public assets can be recovered, and that the state can once again serve its citizens, free Hungarian citizens.”
The amendment also imposes a 12-year term limit on lawmakers and sets a retirement age of 70 for Constitutional Court judges, which will force the court’s current president, Orban ally Peter Polt, to retire.
Since ousting Orban in April, Magyar has repeatedly called on Sulyok to step down, accusing him of failing to represent national unity on major issues and of serving the interests of Orban and his government.
(Reporting by Gergely Szakacs; Editing by Ros Russell)
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