The former Supreme Court chief and longtime defender of judicial independence takes Hungary’s presidency as Prime Minister Péter Magyar accelerates an ambitious political and constitutional transformation after Viktor Orbán’s election defeat.

Hungary’s parliament elected former Supreme Court president András Baka as the country’s new head of state on Tuesday, in one of the clearest institutional breaks yet with the political system built during Viktor Orbán’s 16 years in power. Baka secured 140 votes in the National Assembly, while six lawmakers voted against him and Orbán’s Fidesz party boycotted the ballot.

The appointment is politically symbolic despite the Hungarian presidency being largely ceremonial. Baka is closely associated with judicial independence and the rule of law, and his career was dramatically altered during Orbán’s tenure. He served as a judge at the European Court of Human Rights before becoming president of Hungary’s Supreme Court in 2009. His mandate was cut short following judicial restructuring introduced by the Orbán government, a dispute that later became a prominent European rule-of-law case.

Baka’s return to one of Hungary’s highest constitutional offices therefore carries significance well beyond the presidency itself. It comes only months after Péter Magyar’s centre-right Tisza party defeated Orbán’s Fidesz in April’s parliamentary election, ending a political era that had profoundly reshaped Hungary’s institutions, its relationship with Brussels and its position inside the European Union. Tisza emerged from the election with the parliamentary strength required to pursue extensive constitutional and institutional reforms.

Prime Minister Magyar has made dismantling what he regards as the remaining structures of the Orbán system a central objective of his government. His administration has promised to strengthen judicial independence, rebuild institutional checks and balances and repair Hungary’s strained relationship with the European Union. Baka’s election fits squarely within that programme.

The political transition, however, remains deeply contested. Fidesz has denounced the process leading to Baka’s appointment and considers the early removal of former president Tamás Sulyok illegitimate. Sulyok, elected during the Orbán era, had originally been due to remain in office until 2029, but a constitutional amendment shortened his mandate. Fidesz lawmakers consequently stayed away from Tuesday’s presidential vote, accusing the new government of using its parliamentary majority to redesign the political system on its own terms.

That criticism underlines the central tension confronting Magyar’s government. While the new leadership argues that extraordinary reforms are necessary to rebuild democratic safeguards weakened during the previous administration, its opponents contend that replacing officials and rewriting constitutional arrangements risks substituting one dominant political structure for another.

Baka sought to address that concern immediately after his election. He emphasised the importance of democratic institutions, judicial independence and a presidency capable of representing citizens beyond party divisions. He also argued that Hungary’s political renewal should not become an exercise in retaliation against those associated with the former government.

His presidency could also have implications for Hungary’s relationship with Brussels. The European Union spent years confronting Orbán’s governments over judicial independence, corruption safeguards, media pluralism and other rule-of-law concerns, with billions of euros in EU financing becoming linked to institutional reforms. Magyar has pledged to restore Hungary’s standing within the bloc and strengthen its role as an EU and NATO member.

Although Hungary’s president does not direct government policy, the office retains important constitutional functions, including the ability to send legislation back to parliament or refer certain questions to the Constitutional Court. Under Baka, those powers could acquire additional importance as the government begins rewriting parts of Hungary’s constitutional architecture.

Magyar has already indicated that a broader constitutional overhaul is planned, potentially including changes to the way future presidents are elected. Baka’s mandate could therefore become transitional, ending once a new constitution enters into force rather than necessarily running for the full conventional five-year term.

For Hungary, Tuesday’s vote represents more than a change of president. It illustrates how rapidly the country’s political order is being reconstructed following Orbán’s departure from office. The challenge for Magyar and Baka will be demonstrating that the transformation strengthens independent institutions rather than simply transferring political power from one governing camp to another.

The election of a judge once pushed aside during the Orbán era now places one of that era’s most recognizable institutional critics at the symbolic head of the Hungarian state — an appointment that captures both the scale of Hungary’s political reversal and the uncertainty surrounding what comes next.

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