Amnesty International warns Hungary over rushed election of constitutional judge, Tisza majority to decide without consultation

The Hungarian parliament is set to fill a vacancy on the Constitutional Court in a rapid procedure that Amnesty International Hungary (AIH) has denounced as a continuation of one-party judicial selection. The vacancy opened after the 17th amendment to the constitution took effect on Sunday, 19 July, capping parliamentary service at 12 years and automatically ending the mandate of Csaba Hende, who had been a lawmaker for 23 years.

How the vacancy emerged

The amendment, adopted by the ruling Tisza party’s supermajority of 141 seats in the 199-seat legislature, limits combined parliamentary terms to 12 years. Because Hende exceeded that threshold, his Constitutional Court term expired the day the amendment took force. Under the law on the Constitutional Court, a judge’s mandate lapses automatically if the person no longer meets the requirements for re-election to parliament. The same amendment also reduces the retirement age for judges: the terms of four other judges over 70, chairman Peter Polt, Maria Adam-Hazonicsne, Miklos Juhasz and Zoltan Lomniczi, will end on the first day of the second month after the amendment’s entry into force, i.e., 1 September 2026.

A vote in just over a week

The parliament’s agenda, published on Thursday 23 July, schedules the election of a new judge for next Monday, 27 July, with the swearing-in expected on the same day. By law legislators have up to 60 days to fill a vacancy. AIH pointed to the 60-day window as a safeguard that “allows for broad expert and political consultations, through which the most suitable person could be selected for a body responsible for protecting the rule of law and democracy.” The current approach, the organisation said, renders even the minimal statutory consultations meaningless.

Even the minimal consultations provided for in the current regulations lose their meaning; in practice, the process of electing a Constitutional Court judge will proceed as before — unilaterally, without expert or political consultations.

Amnesty International’s response

AIH condemned the “astonishing haste” with which lawmakers intend to elect a judge and administer the oath on the same day. It stressed that the ruling party’s two-thirds majority means any person can be elected without the need for compromise or consultation, a dynamic that mirrors the single-party control in judicial appointments previously attributed to Viktor Orbán’s government.

Dysponując większością dwóch trzecich głosów, można wybrać do Trybunału dowolną osobę, bez konieczności szukania kompromisu czy prowadzenia konsultacji.

What comes next

The vote on Monday will fill the seat left by Hende, elected for a nine-year term by a two-thirds majority of MPs on a motion of the justice and constitutional affairs committee. Because Tisza controls 141 votes, the outcome is virtually certain without opposition input. Meanwhile, the four older judges will leave the bench on 1 September, opening a further wave of appointments later in the year.