News summary produced by Claude AI
Hungarian President Tamás Sulyok announced his intention to resign after the country’s parliament approved a constitutional amendment designed to remove him from office. The amendment, championed by Prime Minister Péter Magyar’s Tisza party, passed with overwhelming support in the legislature. Sulyok had been given a five-day deadline to sign the measure or face potential impeachment proceedings and constitutional complications. He formalized his agreement to step down as the Saturday evening deadline approached, with his presidency set to conclude at midnight on Sunday.
The removal of Sulyok represents a significant escalation in the political upheaval following April elections that saw Magyar’s Tisza party achieve a landslide victory and Viktor Orbán’s Fidesz party suffer a historic defeat after 16 years in power. The Magyar government characterized Sulyok as a loyalist of the former administration and sought his removal as part of broader efforts to reconfigure state institutions. The Tisza party has pursued sweeping constitutional changes since winning the election, with 141 party deputies rising to applaud when the amendment vote results were announced.
In his resignation statement, Sulyok criticized the government’s actions, contending that the constitutional amendment represented a violation of the rule of law and a fundamental breach of democratic principles. He characterized the measure as a watershed moment that threatened core democratic values. Former Hungarian Supreme Court head András Baka, commenting on the removal, expressed agreement with the decision while noting that Fidesz had systematically captured state institutions and created an authoritarian system designed to endure beyond electoral losses. Orbán, who has largely withdrawn from public view since the April election, denounced the amendment as tyrannical and called for public protest against the government’s actions.