Hungary appoints once-ousted judge Andras Baka as new president
Hungary's parliament has appointed former Supreme Court chief Andras Baka as the country's new president, replacing Orban loyalist Tamas Sulyok after months of pressure from Prime Minister Peter Magyar. The move follows Magyar's promised overhaul of state institutions after ending Orban's nearly 16-year rule.
On Tuesday, August 11, Hungary's parliament elected 73-year-old lawyer Andras Baka as the country's new president. Baka previously spent nearly two decades as a judge at the European Court of Human Rights before returning to Hungary in 2009 to lead its Supreme Court. Lawmakers backed his candidacy 140 to six, while Viktor Orban's Fidesz party boycotted the vote, knowing it could not change the outcome.
Baka replaces Tamas Sulyok, who had been closely associated with the previous Orban administration. Sulyok resisted pressure to step down for months but relented in July, signing constitutional amendments that immediately ended his term — doing so on the last day before a five-day deadline, after Magyar threatened impeachment proceedings.
Magyar's promised changes
Since Orban's government was replaced in early May by Prime Minister Peter Magyar's Tisza-led administration, the new leadership has promised a "new era" for Hungary. In June, Magyar told parliament about what he called "Operation Cleansing Fire," aimed at rooting out what he described as the "Orban mafia," accusing Sulyok of failing to protect the rule of law.
Notably, Baka himself was removed from the Supreme Court presidency in December 2011, three years before his term was due to end, shortly after Orban returned to power — at the time, Baka had criticized planned judicial reforms. Magyar has said Baka's career exemplifies loyalty to democratic rule of law.
Magyar initially wanted to offer the presidency to chess grandmaster Judit Polgar, who declined the role.
Criticism and support
The presidential transition has drawn both criticism and praise. Fidesz representatives called Sulyok's removal "tyrannical" and "unlawful," and some observers have drawn parallels to practices from the Orban era. Baka himself has not criticized Sulyok's removal, stressing that officials should serve the rule of law rather than the survival of the previous system.
Addressing parliament, Baka said the new Hungary must not be built on revenge and pledged openness in the country's future constitutional process.
