Hungarian Parliament Ousts President Sulyok in Constitutional Overhaul, Threatening Crisis

A parliamentary supermajority acts

On Monday, the Hungarian parliament voted 139 to 6 to adopt a 12-point constitutional amendment ending the terms of President Tamás Sulyok and Constitutional Court President Péter Polt. The governing Tisza party, led by Prime Minister Péter Magyar, used its two-thirds majority (141 of 199 seats) to muscle through the 17th amendment package since Orbán’s 2011 constitution. Sulyok, a former Constitutional Court judge appointed by the previous Fidesz-controlled parliament, had refused repeated calls to resign.

It would be a betrayal of the Hungarian nation if we didn’t touch this Constitution.

Magyar, who won a surprise landslide in the 12 April parliamentary election, framed the vote as the fulfilment of a campaign promise. “With today’s vote, we have completed the constitutional reform of the Orbán regime,” he said. The amendment’s official purpose is “restoring rule-of-law democracy.”

The five-day deadline and impeachment threat

Sulyok now has five days to sign the amendment into law, which would terminate his own mandate the day after it enters into force. Alternatively, he can refer it to the Constitutional Court for procedural review, a move Magyar has vowed to meet with impeachment proceedings. If impeachment is launched, Sulyok’s powers would be suspended and Parliamentary Speaker Ágnes Forsthoffer would assume his duties temporarily, enabling her to sign the amendment. A new president would then need to be elected within 30 days.

This process is a violation of the principles of the rule of law, democracy and separation of powers.

Sulyok has asked the Venice Commission of the Council of Europe for an opinion, which has not yet been issued.

Reforms extend beyond the presidency

The amendment package reorders key institutions. A reintroduced age limit of 70 forces the immediate retirement of four of the 15 Constitutional Court judges, breaking Fidesz’s previous hold. Deputies are limited to three terms (12 years), a measure that would sideline more than half of the current Fidesz lawmakers. The term of Constitutional Court judges is shortened from twelve to nine years. A new National Office for anti-corruption is also created.

I quite agree with the removal of the president.

András Baka, a former president of the Supreme Court, told the BBC that Hungary was governed by the rule of law between 1989 and 2010, after which Fidesz captured state institutions. The court restructuring, he suggested, is needed.

Fidesz walks out, Orbán watches from afar

Fidesz deputies boycotted the vote, accusing Tisza of building an “autocratic regime” and granting the government arbitrary power to dismiss any public official. Viktor Orbán, watching the football World Cup in the United States, posted on Facebook urging Hungarians to “resist” if the president is forcibly removed. Former opposition presidential candidate Péter Rona noted the irony: Fidesz had designed the 2011 constitution around the “winner takes all” principle, which now works against it.

The great irony of the situation is that Fidesz have fallen foul of their own concept of power.

Operation Cleansing Fire and a possible constitutional crisis

Magyar has described the purge as part of “Operation Cleansing Fire,” aiming to dismantle the “economic and political mafia” built by Orbán. In parallel, state television channel M1 halted transmission last week, apologising for having served as a propaganda tool, and Kossuth Radio went off air. Analysts warn that if Sulyok refuses to sign, the resulting stalemate could tip into a constitutional crisis that clouds the new government’s prospects for reviving the country’s sluggish investment climate.