BUDAPEST — Two human rights organizations in Hungary are raising concerns about a proposed constitutional amendment put forward by Prime Minister Peter Magyar’s government that would remove President Tamas Sulyok from office and place a term limit on members of parliament.
Magyar’s centre-right Tisza party, which defeated Viktor Orban’s nationalist government in April after 16 years in power, has described Sulyok as a “puppet” of Orban. The party also argues that a 12-year term limit on lawmakers would help encourage broader representation in government.
Hungary’s president holds only limited powers, including the ability to veto legislation or send it for review.
Sulyok spent 10 years as a Constitutional Court judge — eight of those as its head — before parliament appointed him president in 2024. He has maintained that he carries no political agenda and has simply provided the checks and balances that his role requires.
Because Tisza holds a supermajority in parliament, the party has the ability to change the constitution and undo reforms made under Orban that critics say damaged the country’s democratic institutions.
On Thursday, Prime Minister Magyar dismissed the criticism of the proposal, describing the legislative package as “fast, tight, self-limiting and precise,” and said everything in it had been publicly known beforehand.
Magyar also announced at a briefing that he has invited President Sulyok and experts from the Venice Commission — the Council of Europe’s advisory panel — to Budapest next week to talk through the planned changes.
The proposed legislation states that its goal is to create “the preconditions for the restoration of constitutional democracy.” The amendment would end Sulyok’s term immediately, pointing to what it calls society’s “serious loss of confidence” in him.
Amnesty International Hungary said it considered Sulyok to have become “unworthy of his office.” However, the group’s communication director, Aron Demeter, told the television channel ATV on Wednesday evening that impeachment would be a “better and fairer” path than removing the president through a constitutional amendment, and would better align with international standards.
Political analyst Gabor Torok also took issue with the plan to remove the head of state “with a one-sentence constitutional amendment.” Writing on Facebook, Torok said: “Those who vote for this think … they can do anything with their qualified majority.”
The Hungarian Civil Liberties Union weighed in as well, saying that establishing a term limit for parliament members is not a pressing matter and should instead be addressed as part of a thorough and comprehensive constitutional review process.
