Hungary passes law making removal of president more difficult

File photo: Hungary

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Hungary’s parliament, dominated by Prime Minister Viktor Orban’s nationalist coalition, approved a bill on Wednesday making it more difficult to remove the country’s president from office.

The vote came some four months before elections in the central European country of 9.5 million, with Orban facing an unprecedented challenge as polls show opposition leader Peter Magyar’s party TISZA in a solid lead.

Hungary’s current president is Tamas Sulyok, a former head of the constitutional court who is seen as an Orban ally. His five-year term runs out in 2030.

As head of state, he has mainly ceremonial powers, but can also veto laws or send them to the constitutional court for review, allowing him to frustrate a government’s agenda.

Parliament could previously declare that a president was unable to perform duties with a simple majority vote.

But under the new law, the constitutional court will now have to review whether the president’s removal was lawful and will have the power to reject the measure.

The law was passed with a vote of 134 for, 49 against and two abstentions. Any amendments to it will now require a two-thirds majority.

The constitutional court is headed by former chief prosecutor Peter Polt, an Orban ally, who was approved by parliament for a 12-year term earlier this year.

“The President of the Republic indicated that he sees a gap in his own legal status that could give rise to potential abuse, and we have therefore accepted his observation,” Orban’s chief of staff, Gergely Gulyas, told a regular media briefing on Wednesday.

But opposition TISZA party told independent media Telex that the bill is “further proof” that Orban’s government is afraid that voters will not return it to power during the April elections.

AFP

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