Hungary elects new president Andras Baka, once removed from top court by Orban

Hungary's parliament on Tuesday elected Andras Baka as the country's new president, a lawyer whose career once collided with then-Prime Minister Viktor Orban. Lawmakers backed him 140 votes to six.

Baka spent nearly two decades, from 1991 to 2008, serving as a judge at the European Court of Human Rights. In 2009 he became chief justice of Hungary's Supreme Court, but he did not finish his term there — in 2012 he was removed from the post after publicly criticizing the Orban government's decision to lower the mandatory retirement age for judges from 70 to 62. Baka described the move at the time as a purge of the judicial system.

Previous nominee declined

Before Baka's nomination, Prime Minister Peter Magyar had offered the presidential candidacy to chess legend Judit Polgar, who turned it down. Magyar faced criticism at the time for not consulting the public before making that offer, as he had earlier promised to do.

A president for a transition period

Magyar has said Baka will serve only part of the presidential term — until work is completed on a new constitution intended to replace the basic law adopted under Orban. That constitution is being drafted with broad public involvement, and Magyar has estimated the process will take one to one and a half years, promising to launch public consultations on it next month.

Baka's predecessor, Tamas Sulyok, saw his mandate end on July 20 under constitutional amendments passed in July at the initiative of the ruling Tisza party. Sulyok had been elected president in 2024 with the backing of Orban's right-wing populist Fidesz party.