Hungary's president agrees to step down after law change ends his term

Hungary's President Tamás Sulyok has agreed to resign after signing a constitutional amendment passed by the ruling Tisza party of Prime Minister Péter Magyar. The amendment ends Sulyok's term immediately, citing society's “serious loss of confidence” in a leader elected in early 2024 by lawmakers from former Prime Minister Viktor Orbán's nationalist Fidesz party.

Sulyok, a former constitutional court judge, said he had no choice but to rubber-stamp the legislation as he respected the letter of the law. However, he warned that the reform had 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.”

The legislation is part of Magyar's drive to dismantle Orbán's bastions of power after ousting the rightwing leader in an election landslide in April. Orbán, 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 wrote.

Fidesz has faced a series of high-profile resignations and a decline in public support since its election defeat in April. Parliament, where Magyar's centre-right Tisza party has a two-thirds majority allowing it to change any laws, will elect a new president who will serve until a new constitution takes effect or for a maximum of five years.

After Sulyok signed the amendment, Magyar said the parliament speaker, Ágnes Forsthoffer, would assume the role of interim president from Monday. “With these decisions, we are restoring something that the Orbán regime spent many years trying to take away from the Hungarian people,” Magyar 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, frees 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, Orbán's ally Péter Polt, to retire. Magyar had repeatedly called on Sulyok to step down, accusing him of failing to represent national unity on major issues and of serving the interests of Orbán and his government.