The Hungarian parliament approved a landmark constitutional amendment on Monday, to remove President Tamás Sulyok from office, marking a major escalation in Prime Minister Péter Magyar’s campaign to dismantle the institutional influence established by his predecessor, Viktor Orbán.
The 17th amendment passed with a 139–6 vote in the 199-seat National Assembly, propelled by the ruling center-right Tisza Party’s two-thirds supermajority. Lawmakers from Orbán’s opposition Fidesz party boycotted the session in protest, characterizing the vote as an autocratic assault on the country’s constitutional order. Sulyok, an Orbán ally appointed in early 2024, now has five days to sign the amendment. If he refuses, the government has vowed to launch immediate impeachment proceedings.
The sweeping reform also introduces a compulsory retirement age of 70 for constitutional judges—effectively removing Constitutional Court President Péter Polt—and imposes a three-term limit on lawmakers, preventing over half of current Fidesz deputies from running in future elections. While Magyar defended the overhaul as a necessary step to restore rule-of-law democracy, Orbán condemned the removal on social media, declaring the changes an act of autocracy.
