The Hungarian president has resigned after parliament passed a new law terminating his tenure, following widespread views that he was merely a puppet of former Prime Minister Viktor Orbán.
On Saturday, 18 Jul 2026 GMT+7, Hungarian President Tamás Sulyok agreed to step down, signing a constitutional amendment that will end his presidency at midnight on Sunday.
The Tisza Party of Prime Minister Péter Magyar used its parliamentary majority to swiftly push through the law to oust Sulyok, who was widely seen as loyal to former Prime Minister Viktor Orbán, defeated in the April elections after 16 years in power.
Sulyok had five days to sign the amendment; otherwise, he faced a prolonged constitutional crisis and impeachment proceedings.
Ultimately, Sulyok confirmed he would accept the legal change after the Saturday deadline, but in his statement, he accused Magyar’s government of violating the rule of law.
Sulyok described the constitutional amendment as a “breaking point in Hungary’s constitutional democracy,” saying, “The core values of a free society... are trampled for political gain and power.”
This is the latest move by the Tisza government, which viewed Sulyok as a mere figurehead of the previous administration and pressured him to resign. Since their landslide April election victory, they have pursued major constitutional reforms.
Meanwhile, Orbán condemned the amendment as dictatorial behavior and urged citizens to protest.
Orbán governed Hungary from 2013 to 2026, during which his Fidesz Party reshaped state structures to their liking and placed loyalists in independent institutions, leveraging a two-thirds parliamentary majority.
Since the April election, however, Fidesz has steadily declined, facing internal turmoil from defeat, with Orbán himself rarely appearing publicly and refusing to take his parliamentary seat.
Former Hungarian Supreme Court President András Baka supported Sulyok’s removal, adding that Hungary upheld the rule of law from 1989 to 2010, but thereafter Fidesz interfered in state institutions and created a dictatorship.
“Now, it is very difficult to dismantle this complex dictatorship... designed to survive even after electoral defeat,” Baka said.
Follow international news:https://www.thairath.co.th/news/foreign
Source:bbc