Hungary's parliament ousts president in sweeping constitutional overhaul
The Hungarian parliament has voted to remove President Tamás Sulyok from office, enacting a constitutional amendment that also removes the head of the Constitutional Court and imposes term limits on lawmakers. The move, driven by Prime Minister Péter Magyar's Tisza party which holds a two-thirds majority, marks a dramatic shift in the country's political landscape.
The 17th amendment to the constitution, passed on Monday, ends the terms of Sulyok and Constitutional Court President Péter Polt. It also removes judges over the age of 70 and prevents deputies who have served three parliamentary terms from standing again—a provision that affects more than half of the current Fidesz deputies.
Sulyok now has five days to sign the amendment into law, refer it to the Constitutional Court, or resign. If he challenges the amendment, Magyar has threatened to launch impeachment proceedings, which would automatically suspend the president from office.
The vote follows the Tisza party's landslide victory in the 12 April elections, ending 16 years of rule by Viktor Orbán's Fidesz party. Since taking office in early May, the new government has moved swiftly to reshape state institutions.
Deputies from Fidesz, now in opposition, walked out of parliament before the vote, accusing the Tisza party of building a "tyranny." They argue that the amendment grants the government arbitrary power to dismiss any public official with immediate effect.
The 2011 constitution, drafted under Orbán's government, enshrined a "winner takes all" principle. During its 16 years in power, Fidesz used its two-thirds majority to fill state positions with party loyalists, leading critics to describe the system as an "authoritarian regime" designed to survive electoral defeat.
"The great irony of the situation is that Fidesz have fallen foul of their own concept of power," said Péter Rona, a former opposition presidential candidate. András Baka, former head of the Supreme Court, expressed support for the removal of President Sulyok, noting that Hungary was governed by the rule of law from 1989 to 2010 before Fidesz captured state institutions.
"It is now very difficult to break up a sophisticated authoritarian regime... which was designed to survive even after electoral defeat," Baka said.
The Tisza party's 141 deputies gave a standing ovation as the vote results were announced. The amendment is the most significant legislative action since the new government took office, signalling a major overhaul of Hungary's political system.
