This step ended the dispute between him and the new country’s government. The government sought to remove him by purging officials appointed during V. Orban’s administration.
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Hungarian Prime Minister Peter Magyar, who defeated long-time Prime Minister V. Orban in the April elections, repeatedly called on T. Sulyok to resign.
P. Magyar said the president failed to fulfill his role by not preventing the anti-democratic steps of V. Orban’s government.
When T. Sulyok refused to do so, P. Magyar’s pro-European, center-right party “Tisza” lawmakers passed a constitutional amendment this week demanding the immediate termination of his term.
T. Sulyok had five days to sign the amendment, and he did so on the last day before the deadline.
In a video posted on the social network “Facebook” on Saturday evening, T. Sulyok, whom P. Magyar often called V. Orban’s “puppet,” stated that being forced to sign the amendment is “long-term proof that the fundamental values of a free society, the rule of law, democracy, and the principle of separation of powers have been trampled by the interests of power.”
T. Sulyok’s term will officially end at midnight on Monday, when the Speaker of Parliament Agnes Forsthoffer will automatically take over his duties until lawmakers elect a new president. A 30-day deadline has been set for this task.
Since May, when he took office, P. Magyar’s administration quickly began dismantling what he calls V. Orban’s “mafia,” removing numerous officials believed to have supported V. Orban’s government.
The new government suspended the activities of Hungary’s public television and radio news service, which, according to P. Magyar, operated as V. Orban’s party’s “propaganda factory,” and closed the Hungarian Sovereignty Defense Office – an institution that V. Orban’s opponents considered a tool to intimidate critics and silence independent media.
The amendment that removed T. Sulyok also provides for certain judicial reforms, the establishment of an office to investigate financial abuses during V. Orban’s government, and set a 12-year term limit for lawmakers.
On Saturday, in a post on the social network “Facebook,” V. Orban reacted to T. Sulyok signing 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, tomorrow no one will be safe,” V. Orban wrote.
However, in a video statement posted on “Facebook” on Saturday, P. Magyar said that by passing the amendment “we fulfilled several important commitments and returned what the Orban regime tried to take away from the Hungarian people for many years.”
He added that on Monday he will convene his party to discuss presidential candidates.
