Tamás Sulyok has signed a contentious constitutional amendment terminating his own mandate, deepening a national debate over whether Hungary’s democratic renewal is restoring institutional accountability or replacing one form of political dominance with another.
BUDAPEST — Hungarian President Tamás Sulyok has agreed to leave office after signing a constitutional amendment that brings his mandate to an immediate end, marking one of the most consequential steps yet in Prime Minister Péter Magyar’s campaign to dismantle the political system inherited from Viktor Orbán.
The amendment, approved by Hungary’s parliament on July 13, declares that the president has suffered a “serious loss of confidence” within society. Sulyok signed the measure five days later, despite condemning it as unprecedented and damaging to the rule of law. His presidency is due to end the day after the amendment formally enters into force.
Sulyok, a former president of Hungary’s Constitutional Court, was elected head of state by parliament in 2024 with the support of Orbán’s nationalist Fidesz party. Although the Hungarian presidency is largely ceremonial, the office carries constitutional responsibilities that include signing legislation, representing national unity and, in certain circumstances, referring laws for judicial review.
In a recorded statement, Sulyok said he had little legal choice but to approve the amendment because it had been adopted in accordance with the formal requirements of the constitution. At the same time, he warned that changing the country’s fundamental law to remove a specific officeholder had weakened Hungary’s legal order and set a dangerous institutional precedent.
The legislation was passed by 139 votes to six, using the two-thirds parliamentary majority secured by Magyar’s centre-right Tisza party after its landslide election victory in April. Fidesz lawmakers boycotted the vote, accusing the government of using its supermajority to purge political opponents and concentrate authority in its own hands.
Magyar has defended Sulyok’s removal as part of a broader effort to restore democratic checks and balances following Orbán’s 16 years in power. The prime minister has repeatedly described the outgoing president as a loyal instrument of the previous administration who failed to challenge legislation that weakened independent institutions.
The constitutional amendment extends far beyond the presidency. It includes judicial and political reforms, introduces a 12-year service limit for members of parliament and establishes new restrictions affecting senior constitutional judges. The government says the measures are transitional steps intended to dismantle entrenched networks of influence and prepare the country for a new constitution.
Magyar’s administration has moved rapidly since taking office in May, targeting institutions that critics say were brought under Fidesz control during Orbán’s rule. Its programme has included changes to public broadcasting, security bodies, anti-corruption structures and Hungary’s relationship with European institutions.
Supporters view the reforms as a long-awaited democratic reset after years of conflict between Budapest and the European Union over judicial independence, media pluralism, corruption and the rule of law. Opponents, however, argue that the speed and scope of the transformation risk reproducing the same majoritarian tactics previously used by Orbán.
That tension has made Sulyok’s removal particularly controversial. While the new government argues that the president lacked democratic legitimacy after the defeat of the political movement that appointed him, constitutional experts and civil-rights organisations have questioned whether a parliamentary majority should be able to end a president’s term through a tailor-made constitutional provision.
Critics have also pointed out that the amendment was adopted through an accelerated procedure and without an individual process allowing Sulyok to contest the stated loss of public confidence. Amnesty International and other observers have raised concerns about the absence of sufficient procedural safeguards.
Thousands of Orbán supporters had previously demonstrated outside the presidential residence in Budapest against the planned removal, presenting the dispute as a test of whether Hungary’s new leadership would respect the independence of offices held by figures associated with the former government.
Under the amended constitution, parliament will elect Sulyok’s successor. The new head of state is expected to serve until a proposed replacement constitution is adopted or for a maximum period established by the transitional arrangements.
The selection will give Magyar’s government another opportunity to reshape Hungary’s institutional leadership. It will also intensify scrutiny of whether the Tisza administration intends to appoint an independently minded president or a political ally who will support its legislative agenda.
Sulyok’s departure therefore represents more than a change in Hungary’s largely ceremonial presidency. It has become a symbol of the country’s uncertain political transition: a decisive break with the Orbán era that many voters demanded, but one being carried out through methods that have revived concerns about the limits of parliamentary power.
For Magyar, the removal demonstrates that his government is prepared to act swiftly against officials it considers remnants of an authoritarian system. For his critics, it is evidence that Hungary’s new rulers may be too willing to rewrite constitutional rules to achieve immediate political objectives.
The central question facing the country is no longer simply whether Orbán’s institutional legacy should be dismantled. It is whether that transformation can be accomplished without further weakening the constitutional restraints that Hungary’s democratic renewal is intended to restore.
