Hungary's President signs constitutional amendment ending his term
Hungary's president signed a constitutional amendment into law on Saturday (July 18, 2026) that ends his term in office, bringing to a close a dispute
Hungary's president signed a constitutional amendment into law on Saturday (July 18, 2026) that ends his term in office, bringing to a close a dispute between him and the country's new government that was seeking to oust him as part of a purge of officials appointed during the reign of Viktor Orbán. Hungarian Prime Minister Péter Magyar, who defeated the long-serving Mr. Orbán in a blowout election in April, had repeatedly called on the Orbán-appointed President, Tamás Sulyok, to resign, arguing he had failed to live up to his role as President by neglecting to stand in the way of antidemocratic steps by Mr. Orbán's government. When Mr. Sulyok refused, lawmakers with Mr. Magyar's pro-European, centre-right Tisza party passed a constitutional amendment this week that called for an immediate end to his term.
Mr. Sulyok had five days to sign the amendment into law, which he did on the final day before the deadline. In a video posted to Facebook on Saturday (July 18) evening, Mr. Sulyok — whom Mr. Magyar had frequently referred to as Mr. Orbán's “puppet” — said that being made to sign the amendment was “lasting proof that the fundamental values of a free society, the rule of law, democracy, the principle of power-sharing, have been trampled on in the interest of power.” Sulyok's term will officially end at midnight on Monday (July 20), when speaker of Parliament, Ágnes Forsthoffer, will automatically assume his duties until lawmakers elect a new President, a task which has a 30-day deadline. Since taking office in May, Mr. Magyar's administration has quickly gone to work dismantling what he calls Mr. Orbán's “mafia” by removing numerous political appointees and heads of institutions viewed as having facilitated Mr. Orbán's autocratic government.
The new government suspended the news service of Hungary's public television and radio — which Mr. Magyar has argued served as a “propaganda factory” for Mr. Orbán's party — and shuttered Hungary's Sovereignty Protection Office, an authority seen by Mr. Orbán's opponents as a tool for intimidating critics and silencing independent media. The amendment which removed Mr. Sulyok also made some judicial reforms, set up an office aimed at investigating financial abuses under the Mr. Orbán government, and imposed a 12-year term limit on lawmakers. In a Facebook post on Saturday (July 18), Mr. Orbán responded to Mr. Sulyok's signing of the amendment by writing that “tyranny is no longer a threat, but a reality.” “If this could be done to the President of the republic, then tomorrow no one will be safe,” Mr. Orbán wrote.
The BriefWire