President Tamás Sulyok signs constitutional amendment, ending his mandate at midnight
A week after a landslide parliamentary vote, Hungarian President Tamás Sulyok signed the 17th constitutional amendment, effectively abolishing the presidency and obliging his term to conclude at midnight on Sunday. The amendment, imposed by the ruling Tisza coalition, follows a pattern of sweeping institutional changes that have replaced many independent state posts with party loyalists since the 2026 landslide victory.
Fidesz’s two‑thirds majority enabled the amendment’s swift passage, removing the head of the Constitutional Court and preventing MPs who have served three terms from standing again – a move that affects over half the current deputies from the former Orbán administration. The amendment was described by Orbán as an act of tyranny, and he called for protests, while he himself has remained largely absent from the public eye and has not yet taken his seat in parliament.
Sulyok, who had only five days to sign the amendment or risk a protracted constitutional crisis and impeachment proceedings, chose to comply but condemned the change as a “breaking point in Hungarian constitutional democracy.” He accused the government of violating the rule of law, stating that “the core values of a free society… have been trampled underfoot for the sake of political power.”
