Hungary’s Parliament on Monday approved a measure that would oust the country’s president, a highly unusual and contested move to dismantle the political order constructed by the country’s former leader, Viktor Orban, by getting rid of his loyalists.
Some legal scholars and human rights groups outside Hungary have raised concerns about the purge, and Mr. Orban’s supporters have denounced it as a sign of a coming dictatorship. But Hungary’s new government says the removal of the president, whose term runs until 2029, was a necessary step after 16 years of Mr. Orban’s strongman rule.
Prime Minister Peter Magyar, whose Tisza party handed a humiliating defeat to Mr. Orban’s party, Fidesz, in an April election, described the removal of the president, through a revision of the Constitution, as an “important step to eliminate Orban’s economic and political mafia.”
Mr. Magyar has repeatedly called on the president, Tamas Sulyok, to step down of his own accord, insisting that his party’s landslide victory gave him a mandate to remove “puppets” of Mr. Orban’s system. Mr. Sulyok was selected for the presidency, a largely ceremonial but symbolically important post, by the previous, Fidesz-controlled Parliament.
For the president’s removal to take effect, the law amending the Constitution must be signed by Mr. Sulyok. Since he is unlikely to do that, analysts and diplomats say that Hungary could face a constitutional crisis that risks clouding the new government’s prospects for reviving the country’s sluggish economy and restoring the rule of law.
Mr. Magyar, rebuffed by the president and Fidesz, which has held small street protests in defense of Mr. Sulyok, rushed constitutional amendments through Parliament. He is trying to accelerate what he calls “Operation Cleansing Fire,” a drive to end the former governing party’s long grip on Hungarian politics, the judiciary, state-run media and nominally independent government agencies.
Hungary’s main state television news channel, M1, temporarily halted transmission last week, displaying a contrite message addressing its previous role as propaganda bullhorn for Fidesz: “Public media should not lie. We are sorry for doing it for so long.” Kossuth Radio, a state broadcaster that used to feature a weekly and invariably flattering interview with Mr. Orban, also went off the air.
The amendments approved on Monday also set term limits for members of Parliament; that would hit Fidesz hard, as many of its legislators have served multiple terms. A three-term limit closes the possibility of Mr. Orban’s return to the post of prime minister in the future.
The amendments also restore a mandatory retirement age of 70, which Fidesz eliminated in 2011, for judges on the country’s Constitutional Court. The court is currently stacked with loyalists of the former governing party, and its president will turn 71 this year.
Mr. Magyar’s party secured a supermajority in Parliament in April, which has allowed it to push through constitutional amendments with ease. Fidesz, which previously had a large majority, regularly did so during its long tenure in power.
Human Rights Watch, one of several foreign organizations to voice reservations about the changes, said in a statement that the removals of the president and of the president of the Constitutional Court were “reminiscent of the methods of the Fidesz era.”
The human rights group said Mr. Magyar had a strong mandate “to repair the damage to the rule of law caused by 16 years of Fidesz rule.” Achieving that goal, it added, “requires respect for due process and genuine public consultation before any sweeping constitutional changes are adopted.”
Mr. Magyar, a former Fidesz loyalist who defected in 2024 to form an opposition movement, campaigned on promises to bring about a “regime change” that would purge corruption by members of Mr. Orban’s family and his political allies.
Transparency International recently put Hungary at the bottom of its annual corruption ranking in the European Union for a fourth year.
Mr. Orban won a seat in Parliament in April’s election but gave it up after it became clear that Fidesz would be in a small minority. He has mostly avoided the political battle in Budapest by leaving the country, telling reporters at an airport in Frankfurt that he was going to the United States to attend the World Cup.
But he denounced the parliamentary move on social media. “Today they’re settling accounts with the president,” Mr. Orban wrote in a Facebook post. “Tomorrow they can do it to anyone.”
Mr. Orban’s supporters have railed against what they see as a “constitutional coup” by Parliament. They have called for intervention by the European Union and other international bodies, all of which were routinely denounced by Fidesz during its time in power as meddlesome outsiders threatening Hungarian sovereignty.
Janos Arva contributed reporting.
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