BUDAPEST, Hungary — Hungarian President Tamas Sulyok signed a constitutional amendment on Saturday that terminates his term, ending a standoff with the newly elected government that sought to remove him as part of a broader purge of officials appointed during Viktor Orbán’s era.
Prime Minister Péter Magyar, who defeated Orbán in a decisive April election, had repeatedly urged Sulyok to step down, claiming the president had failed to block Orbán’s increasingly antidemocratic measures.
When Sulyok declined, lawmakers from Magyar’s pro‑European, centre‑right Tisza party passed a constitutional amendment earlier this week calling for an immediate end to his mandate. He was given five days to sign it, and he did so on the final day before the deadline.
In a Saturday evening Facebook video, Sulyok — frequently labeled Orbán’s “puppet” by Magyar — stated that being compelled to sign the amendment demonstrated that “the fundamental values of a free society, the rule of law, democracy, and power sharing have been trampled in the pursuit of power.”
Sulyok’s term will officially conclude at midnight on Monday, after which Parliament Speaker Ágnes Forsthoffer will automatically assume the presidential duties until legislators elect a successor, a process with a 30‑day window.
Since taking office in May, Magyar’s administration has moved swiftly to dismantle what it calls Orbán’s “mafia” by dismissing numerous political appointees and institutional heads associated with the former regime.
The new government suspended Hungary’s public television and radio news service, which Magyar described as a “propaganda factory” for Orbán’s party, and dissolved the Sovereignty Protection Office, a body viewed by opponents as a weapon for intimidating critics and silencing independent media.
The amendment that removed Sulyok also introduced judicial reforms, created an office to investigate financial misconduct linked to the Orbán administration, and imposed a 12‑year term limit on legislators.
On Facebook, Orbán reacted to Sulyok’s signing of the amendment by declaring “tyranny is no longer a threat, but a reality,” warning that if such actions can be taken against a republic’s president, “tomorrow no one will be safe.”
“If this could be done to the president of the republic, then tomorrow no one will be safe,” Orbán wrote.
However, in a separate Facebook statement on Saturday, Magyar asserted that passing the amendment fulfilled several key commitments and restored powers that the Orbán regime had stripped from the Hungarian people for years, and announced he would convene his party on Monday to discuss nominations for the next president.
He added he would convene his party on Monday to discuss its nomination for a next president.
